


Fire and Earth

by Formula_Tea



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Dragons, F/M, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Minor Character Death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Self-Harm, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 01:19:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 38,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3917857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Formula_Tea/pseuds/Formula_Tea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raffaela's father's kingdom has been plagued by a dragon for as long as she can remember, and she cannot be married until the dragon has been killed. Her lover, the local shoe maker, promises to go and kill it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Would Do Anything For You

Raffaela looked at herself in the mirror then, over her reflection’s shoulder, to the clock on her mantel piece, watching the little hands tick past the hour. Not long now. She brushed her fingers though her hair again, wanting it to be perfect but knowing it would never be quiet right, when there was a knock on her bedroom door. The princess looked up to the clock on her mantel piece again and smiled to herself before calling whoever was outside to come in.

“Lady Maldonado is here to see you,” the servant said. “She says she would like to go for a walk.”

Raffaela’s smile broadened and she nodded, setting down her brush and following the servant down to the castle entrance hall to greet her friend.

Gabriela beamed as her best friend came hurrying down the steps to greet her, hugging Raffaela tightly and immediately linking her arm through the princess’ to lead her away from the castle. Raffaela waved the guards that approached away and they fell back to where they had been stood. They knew by now that the two women were safe alone. The pair went off on these walks of theirs often enough. The king said it was good for his daughter to be in the company of another woman, especially since his wife had passed away and, with Lady Maldonado being happily married to one of the most respected Lords in the land, he could not think of a woman more suitable for his daughter’s friendship.

Gabriela giggled as she lead the princess away from the castle, but Raffaela managed to keep her cool and remain lady like until they were out of sight from everybody.

“I still do not believe they fall for this every time,” she said, as Gabriela unlinked their arms and took hold of the princess’ hand, quickening her pace as they hurried away from the castle.

“I pray every night that they don’t find out,” Gabriela called back, practically running now.

“So do I, but I still worry,” Raffaela said. “Slow down, Gabby. I’ll get my dress caught.”

“Oh, we could not have you presented to your sweet heart in such a state as this,” Gabriela teased, slowing down a little. “What would he think?”

“I doubt Felipe would notice if my dress _was_ ripped,” Raffaela laughed. “But my father would notice every tear and you know it.”

“I know,” Gabriela sighed.

They strolled through the empty castle grounds, as glorious oranges took hold of the sky, to the unkempt area of the gardens, where the castle grounds met the fields beyond it. There was a hole in the fence by the small pond Raffaela and Gabriela had discovered as children. And, sat beside the pond, was the local shoe maker.

“Here,” Gabriela said, alerting Felipe to their presence. The scruffy young man jumped up surprised, and wobbled as he tried to not fall into the pond. Both women giggled, making him blush. “I will leave you to it,” Gabriela whispered into Raffaela’s ear.

“Thank you,” Raffaela said, kissing her friend on the cheek before letting Gabriela wander off to entertain herself for a while. She was lucky to have a friend like Gabriela. Most of the women of their “class” would not do something like this for her.

Felipe came up the small slope to where Raffaela was stood, taking hold of her hands.

“You look amazing,” he said quietly, brushing his lips against the back of Raffaela’s hand. It was Raffaela’s turn to blush, always a little embarrassed whenever Felipe treated her with such formalities. When he stood again, he was still holding onto Raffaela’s hand, and he gave it a little squeeze as he turned back to go down the small slope again. “I have something to show you,” he said, beaming.

“Felipe?” Raffaela asked, uncertainly following her lover through the gap in the fence. It was bad enough she were running off to meet Felipe anyway and, if her father were to ever find out, she was pretty sure she would never be allowed to leave the castle again, but to leave the _grounds_. “What if somebody sees?”

“Is ok,” Felipe insisted. “Nobody goes to where we are going. Trust me.”

“I trust you,” Raffaela promised. “But it is already getting dark.”

“It must be dark,” Felipe said. “Is the only time you can see it well.”

Felipe wouldn’t tell her where they were heading, no matter how many times Raffaela asked him, so she just lifted her dress to stop it getting caught and followed her lover through the fields and up a hill. It was pitch black by the time they reached the top, and Raffaela wouldn’t have been able to see her hand in front of her face if it wasn’t for the lantern that somebody – presumably Felipe – had left at the top, along with a rough blanket.

“What are we doing here?” Raffaela asked, sitting down beside Felipe.

“Wait and see,” Felipe said, kissing Raffaela’s forehead and wrapping his arms around her. “Are you warm enough?”

“Yeah,” Raffaela said, quietly, wriggling back into Felipe’s chest and holding his arms around her. “I still don’t know why I’m here.”

“Look down there,” Felipe said, pulling one of his arms away from hers to point down the other side of the hill.

Raffaela peered down into the darkness to where a group of lights were approaching the forest that made up the border of her father’s kingdom. Squinting harder, Raffaela could make out the people carrying the lights, shepherding a small group of lambs to the forest.

“What are they doing?” she asked, quietly.

“Him, the one at the front, he has lost the bet,” Felipe said, speaking directly into Raffaela’s ear. “So now he must be the one to sacrifice lambs to the dragon.”

“What!?”

Raffaela knew of the dragon. It lived somewhere beyond the forest and had been plaguing her father’s kingdom for as long as she could remember, taking the livestock and occasionally worse. Knights and soldiers had gone into the forest to slay the dragon, rid them of its presence, but none had ever returned.

“They have to,” Felipe said. “They must give it something, or it will come into the village in search of food. And this way they can give it their weakest and most worthless lambs, yes? And they make sure their best sheep are kept alive. And nobody is hurt.”

“Suppose you are right,” Raffaela said, quietly, wriggling a little further back into Felipe so that he would hold her tighter. She still didn’t like it. She didn’t like the idea of them _feeding_ the creature, keeping the evil, disgusting thing alive. “So you have taken me to watch little lambs get slaughtered?”

“No,” Felipe said. “Well, yes. But there is something much more beautiful than that.”

The lambs below them were approaching the forest nervously. They had never been this far away from their mothers, and not once had they been let to run off. Something was clearly off, but curiosity got the better of the baby animals, and they wandered towards the trees as the shepherds returned to the village.

“You are watching?” Felipe asked, pointing to the sky just above the forest.

“Yes,” Raffaela said, as curious as the little lambs to find out what Felipe had wanted to show her.

They waited in silence for a little while, listening to the sound of the lambs calling out into the night. Raffaela was about to ask again what she was supposed to be looking at when a great blue and purple flame erupted in the sky where Felipe had been pointing, lighting up the entire sky.

Raffaela gasped, sitting up and staring at the sky as the fire disappeared, the colours still burning her eyes.

Felipe was grinning behind her, pleased with himself.

“You see?” he asked, as if that wasn’t obvious.

“That’s beautiful,” Raffaela whispered.

“Does all colours,” Felipe said quietly, shifting round so he was sat on his knees. “The entire rainbow all at one time, sometimes, when it is angry. Thought you would like it.”

“I love it,” Raffaela said.

Felipe was looking at her when another flame erupted over the forest, this one lime green and yellow and making Raffaela’s awe filled face glow.

“I love you,” Felipe said, quietly, brushing Raffaela’s hair behind her ear.

The night fell back into darkness as the dragon’s flames disappeared and Raffaela turned away from the sight, blinking stupidly to try to adjust her eyes. Felipe just smiled, kissing her before her vision could really recover. Slowly, he eased Raffaela back until she was lying back on the rough blanket.

“Felipe, we can’t,” she said, breaking the kiss and holding Felipe’s face above her own. “You know we can’t.”

Felipe sighed. If he had fallen for any other girl in the kingdom, this would not be a problem. “Nobody would know,” he pointed out. They had been seeing each other for years, secret meetings hidden by darkness and the kindness of Raffaela’s friend. Nobody had ever found out. And nobody would ever know what they had or hadn’t done together.

“ _I_ would know,” Raffaela said. “And the Gods would know.”

“Then I must marry you,” Felipe said, sitting up and pulling Raffaela up with him.

“Yes,” Raffaela said. “You must.”

“Then I will,” Felipe declared. It wasn’t the first time he had said something like that. The promise was always made but Raffaela knew it would never be fulfilled. But there was something different in Felipe’s eye tonight, something Raffaela had never seen before. He meant it.

“You are serious.”

“Of course I am,” Felipe said. “Am lonely. Think you are lonely, and happy with me. We should be together. I am going to marry you.”

“Father would never allow it,” Raffaela said. She was a princess and she would – one day – be married to a prince, or a lord, or some other noble. Not the village shoe maker, no matter how much Lady Maldonado liked the shoes he made.

“Then what do we do?” Felipe asked. He brushed his nose against Raffaela’s, their lips almost touching. Raffaela closed her eyes, pulling away first. “You will marry one day, and then will be unhappy.”

“I won’t marry until-.”

Another burst of flames shot up from where the dragon was lurking, a beautiful red and gold that would have made them both gasp if either had chosen to look at it.

“I won’t be married until the dragon is killed,” Raffaela said. It was a promise her father had made to her, his plan to find someone to kill the beast that ruined his kingdom. And many had tried. Gabriela said she should feel flattered so many men were willing to kill themselves to allow her to marry. She just thought them stupid. So far, no one had been successful. “And I do not think that is going to happen anytime soon.”

“Then I will kill it,” Felipe said. Raffaela just laughed, shaking her head. “You do not think I can do it?”

“I do not think _anybody_ can do it,” Raffaela said. “They say the dragons scales are made of the tears of Gods. That nothing made by man can penetrate it. They say it has eyes as pure a blue that has ever been seen, that can lure a man to do whatever the beast would want him to do. They say-.”

Felipe stopped any more of the rumours with a kiss.

“How can they say all these things when they are not here?” he asked. “They are all just stories. Nobody has seen the dragon.”

“Because they are all killed,” Raffaela said. “Please don’t do anything stupid, Felipe. I love you.”

“And I love you too,” Felipe said. “Is why I must do this. I am going to kill it, and then your father will _have_ to accept that we love each other and we are going to be together. This sounds like a plan to you?”

“It sounds like you want to get yourself killed,” Raffaela said, unimpressed.

“Am going to kill it,” Felipe insisted, pulling Raffaela back into his arms so they could watch another purple and blue flame shoot out into the night sky. “Would do anything for you.”


	2. You're Going To Slay A Dragon?

Felipe was leaning over his work bench, focusing hard on trying to thread the needle, when the shop door burst open, the bell above it ringing to announce someone’s entrance.

“Just a second,” he called, assuming this wasn’t someone come to raid the shop and take him for everything he was worth.

On the fourth attempt, Felipe finally managed to get the threat through the eye of the needle. He pulled the thread through a length before setting the needle down and going through to the front of the shop. Felipe’s friend, Fernando, leaned against the counter, a look of horror on his face. Felipe froze.

“You have not set the bakery on fire again, have you?”

“You’re going to try to kill the dragon,” Fernando said.

“Oh,” Felipe said, quietly. Word travelled fast around the village, especially when that word starts in a bar when you’re trying to find somebody who might be willing to train you. “Yeah… I thought I would… give it a try…”

“Give it a try!” Fernando cried. “Are you insane?”

Felipe shrugged. “Maybe.”

It had been what Raffaela had told him. It had been what the people in the bar had told him too. He’d looked at himself when he’d gone home and thought the same thing. He wasn’t a dragon slayer. He did not know how to hold a weapon, he did not do any physical labour at all. How was he supposed to kill a dragon?

But he had promised Raffaela now. He had told her that he was going to do it, and he wasn’t going to let all the people who were laughing at him now tell him “I told you so”.

“Felipe,” Fernando sighed, grabbing hold of his friend’s shoulders. “You are an idiot.”

“Hey!”

“Are,” Fernando said. “Do you know how many people we have lost to go and fight the dragon? You know why there are so few nobles around here? Because they are scared, if they come, the king will try to get them to kill the dragon. And what happens when they try. They are killed. All of them. Every single one.”

“I am aware of this,” Felipe said. The more he thought about it, the stupider his promise to Raffaela became, but he was still going to do it. He would be with Raffaela or die trying. There were no more options anymore.

“They say its scales are made from the tears of Gods,” Fernando said.

“And it’s eyes can control any man to make him do as the dragon pleases, I know,” Felipe said. “Are all just stories. It is probably not even that bad.”

“Will be that bad,” Fernando said. “And you will get yourself killed. And that is a stupid, stupid thing to do. Should come up with an excuse for when the king hears about this. Maybe you say you were drunk, yes? Maybe he will not make you go if you say this.”

“I am _going_ , Fernando,” Felipe said. He knew his friend’s heart was in the right place. If it were the other way around, he would be saying the exact same thing to Fernando. It was a suicide mission and he had a much better life in the village than as some chargrilled dragon snack. But this _wasn’t_ the other way around, and Felipe wasn’t listening to him. “Do you want any shoes?”

“What?”

“Am working,” Felipe said. “If you do not want to be a customer, could you leave please?”

“Fine,” Fernando said. “But meet me when the store closes tonight, yes?”

“So you can convince me I am mad?” Felipe asked, watching Fernando walk backwards out of the shop.

“No,” Fernando said. “If you are really serious about this, I think I might know somebody who can help.”

 

Felipe met with Fernando after he closed the shop, as he had promised he would do. Maybe Fernando would be a little calmer, now that he had had time to let the idea sink into his head. Felipe wondered if this was what everybody who went to try to slay the dragon got. If they all had friends that tried to convince them they were mad and stopped them from going. He wasn’t sure. Most of the people who went were knights and lords, trained for this kind of thing. Maybe their friends had a little more faith in them.

“This way,” Fernando said, not even greeting Felipe before leading him away from their meeting place. Felipe rolled his eyes, but followed him. Fernando had said he wanted to help. Maybe this would help.

“Where are you taking me?” Felipe asked, having to jog to keep up with Fernando as the Spaniard dashed through the quiet streets.

“You are not going to give up on this dragon thing, are you?” Fernando said, not looking back as he pulled Felipe along behind him.

“No,” Felipe said. It was all he had been able to think about it all day. Maybe he could think of something the knights and nobles hadn’t been able to think of. A trick of some kind. Something the dragon wouldn’t expect. He didn’t know what, yet. He’d need time to prepare himself, and then he would go, as he had promised.

“Then we should speak to a dragon slayer,” Fernando said.

“A dragon slayer?” Felipe repeated, laughing in disbelief. “You know a dragon slayer?”

Why would Fernando know a dragon slayer? He was a baker, and not even a particularly good one at that. He didn’t move in the same circles as dragon slayers.

“Yes,” Fernando said. “Is the best one in the entire kingdom, apparently. Is only in the village for a short while. Nobody knows when he is planning on leaving, so we have to go now.”

“Why is he here?” Felipe asked. He’d never heard of a slayer coming to their village before, except when they tried to go to defeat the dragon. On those occasions, there was usually a big celebration and a farewell. It would be well known that they were off to slay the dragon. But Felipe had heard nothing.

“They are just passing through, I think,” Fernando said. “Maybe we should ask.”

“Does he have a name?” Felipe asked. Maybe he had heard of the slayer, though he doubted it. It wasn’t the kind of thing that usually interested him and any he had met were all dead now.

“Hamilton,” Fernando said, slowing down a little as he came closer to where the slayer was staying. He stopped outside a public house Felipe didn’t visit often. He’d fallen out with the owner years ago over something petty, and promised to keep his distance in future. “He came into the bakery before. We were talking. He seems…” Fernando thought for a moment, trying to come up with the right word.

“That friendly, hey?” Felipe said.

“He seems to know what he is talking about,” Fernando finished, pushing Felipe though the pub door.

A few people looked up from their drinks as the two of them came in, but most of them were preoccupied with their own mumbled conversations. Fernando stood on his toes, trying to look over the small crowds to see where this Hamilton was. Felipe just glanced nervously at the faces at the bar, trying to spot the man he had had the falling out with before.

“There he is,” Fernando said, pointing to someone Felipe couldn’t see. He fell back off of his toes and grabbed Felipe’s hand, pulling his friend through the crowds.

Hamilton had himself a fairly large audience as he told one of his favourite tales. His audience clung to his every word, eyes wide as they watched his over dramatic hand gestures. Felipe stood, leaning against Fernando, as they waited for the story to finish. Unimpressed. This guy couldn’t be real. The so called slayer rolled up his sleeve to show what remained of old burns, the skin pink and resembling scales, Felipe thought. Maybe he had gone after dragons after all.

“But that, that just made my sword white hot, didn’t it?” Hamilton continued. “And their scales may be hard, but they’re not heat proof. And my blade slid through his skin like butter. Straight to the heart. Dead.”

The slayer’s audience gasped in awe, muttering to their neighbours whilst Hamilton watched on with a smug smile on his face. Felipe tutted, crossing his arms. Whether he was a real dragon slayer or not, he didn’t come across as the friendliest of men.

Hamilton looked up at the sound of the tut, the smug smile falling.

“You don’t believe me?” he asked, standing.

Every one of Hamilton’s audience members turned to Felipe, and the shoe maker suddenly felt very uneasy again. Even Fernando stepped away from him, before remembering it was him who had brought him here.

“Of course he believes you,” Fernando said, nudging Felipe a little to try to get him to reply. “That’s why we came you. He wants advice.”

The audience members were muttering amongst themselves now, apparently having figured out who Felipe was. Hamilton considered the pair of them, then smirked again.

“You want to go after a dragon?” he asked.

Nobody said anything, and Fernando nudged Felipe again, trying to get his friend to speak. Felipe stumbled forward a couple of steps, then cleared his throat.

“I am going to kill the dragon on the other side of the forest,” he said, trying to sound as confident as he had been in the other bar the other day, but his voice only came out just loud enough to hear.

Hamilton just burst out laughing, followed closely by his audience. He stepped over the people who had gathered to listen to his stories, making his way over to where Felipe and Fernando were stood.

“There’s a dragon around here?” he asked, looking down at Felipe. “Then I’ve got to kill it.”

“ _I_ am going to kill it,” Felipe said, looking back up at him. He didn’t know what it was about the slayer’s smirk, but it gave him confidence.

“You?” Hamilton asked. “You are going to kill this dragon? What is it? What is it like?”

He turned back to his audience, but it was Fernando who answered.

“Nobody who has seen it has lived,” he said. “But they say the dragon is darker than night, and its scales are made from the tears of the Gods. It’s flames shoot out through all the colours of the rainbow, and they say it’s eyes are so cold and so blue they can lure a man to do whatever the beast desires.”

It felt as if the entire pub had gone silent now, all watching to see what Hamilton’s reaction would be. The slayer seemed to digest the information slowly, running through his own list of creatures to try to identify what this kind of dragon was, but it was clear he had never encountered something like this before. But, if the man in front of him was prepared to go and attack it, it was nothing he couldn’t handle.

“That seems doable,” he said.

Fernando snorted. “It hasn’t been doable yet.”

“If _he_ thinks he can do it,” Hamilton said, jabbing a finger into Felipe’s chest and making the shoe maker stumble back a little. “Then I can definitely do it.”

“He needs training, for sure,” Fernando said. “This is why we have come to you.”

Hamilton laughed again. “You want me to train you?”

“This is a stupid idea, Fernando,” Felipe mumbled, tired of being laughed at. “Let’s go.”

“No, wait,” Hamilton said, grabbing hold of Felipe’s shoulder. “No, this is brilliant. I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you a chance. Sword fight, outside, now. You win, I’ll train you to kill this dragon. _I_ win, I’ll do it myself.”

“A sword fight?” Felipe asked.

“Sure,” Hamilton said. “Have to be able to handle a sword if you’re gonna kill a dragon, haven’t you? Let’s see how well you do.”

The slayer lead Felipe back out of the bar, bringing most of the bar goers with him. He called for someone to get Felipe a sword, unsheathing his own once they were out in the street. Hamilton seemed to have done this kind of thing before, making sure everyone was out of the way so there was a clear area for the fight to commence, himself at one end of the street and Felipe at the other. Someone thrust a sword into Felipe’s hands, the shoe maker almost dropping it immediately.

“Isn’t there something a little… lighter?” Felipe asked, struggling to lift the weapon from the ground.

“How do you expect to kill a dragon if you can’t lift up a sword?” Hamilton asked, gesturing wildly with his own weapon.

Eventually, Felipe managed to lift the sword from the ground, holding it a little higher than he was comfortable.

Fortunately, it took Hamilton less than fifteen second to walk up the street, knock Felipe’s sword out of his hands with his own, and push the shoe maker back until he tripped and landed on his back. Hamilton pointed his sword at Felipe’s throat, a boot on his chest keeping him still.

“Do you really still want to fight this dragon?”


	3. Goodbyes

There was a huge parade the day Hamilton left to go through the forest to fight the dragon. Felipe watched the entire thing with a bitter face from inside his shop, leaning against the counter and tapping his chalk against the wood. Nobody had come into the shop that day. Nobody had come into the shop since the fight. Well… fight wasn’t really an accurate description of the encounter.

It wasn’t that Felipe wanted all the fuss. He didn’t care for the big parade and the celebrations and everything like that. He should have just taken a horse the night he had promised to Raffaela he would kill the dragon and gone and done it. Or _tried_ to do it. He regretted hanging around for so long, letting anybody else find out what he had planned. But it was too late to go back now.

The parade finished sometime around lunch and the streets began to empty as Hamilton rode away towards the forest. Felipe sighed as he watched the street clear through the shop window, still annoyed at himself. He turned to head into the back room when the bell above the shop door opened. Half expecting it to be Fernando trying to cheer him up, he turned around.

“Lady Maldonado?”

A smile automatically split Felipe’s face. The noble’s appearance only meant one thing. Well, _two_ things.

“Are my shoes ready?” Gabriela asked, peering at the little baby shoes Felipe had resting on the counter.

“Riding boots?” Felipe asked, going into the back room to collect the shoes. He liked Gabriela. Not only did she make it possible for him to ever see Raffaela, but she always complimented his craft work.

He presented the shoes to the Lady proudly, only for Gabriela to slap him behind the ear.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“Raffaela says you have promised to go after the dragon,” Gabriela said, watching Felipe rub his head.

“Yes,” Felipe said. “Have to.”

“Then what was _that_?” Gabriela asked, waving a hand back to the street outside.

“What can I do?” Felipe asked. “He says he is going to do it _and_ he gets there before me. Cannot stop anybody else going.”

“Are so stupid,” Gabriela groaned.

“What was I supposed to do?” Felipe asked.

“Should not even have said you were going to do anything,” Gabriela said. “Know you will only get yourself killed if you go after the dragon. The same as everybody else. Why do you think my Pastor has not gone after it? Dead. No other option there. Do you think Raffaela wants you to be dead? Would rather never marry than that.”

“I do not want her to be unhappy,” Felipe said. “But I know I _can_ do it. Or could have done it, if it wasn’t for _Hamilton_.”

“And so you are going to give up now?” Gabriela asked. “You really think Hamilton is going to do it?”

“Do not know what you are trying to say,” Felipe said. “Are one moment saying I am stupid for doing this, in the next you are saying I should not give up and do it! Am confused.”

“Is because you. Are. Stupid,” Gabriela said. “Are not going to get my girl’s hopes up and then give up at the first hurdle. Are you going to go to kill the dragon?”

“If Hamilton kills it-.”

Gabriela rolled her eyes as if she was speaking to a child who didn’t want to pay attention.

“Let us say Hamilton does not kill the dragon,” she said. “Are you going to?”

“Am going to try,” Felipe said. He wasn’t going to back down now.

“Fine then,” Gabriela said. “But you do it this time. Do not put it off until you find somebody else to do it.”

 

Felipe was woken by a roaring outside and was alert instantly. Almost instantly. After tripping over the clothes he’d left on his bedroom floor and stumbling into a bedside table, he was alert and at the bedroom window, peering out into the night. There was only silence outside, the sky dark and the street empty.

Looking across the street, Felipe could see a couple of other people peering out of their windows, trying to see what the cause of the noise was, but there was nothing to see. Felipe _knew_ the noise but, if it weren’t for the other people who had appeared to have heard it, he would have thought he had imagined it.

No, there was nothing. He must have imagined it. Felipe turned away from the window, rubbing his leg where he’d hit it on the table, when the sky lit up behind him. The darkness of the night was replaced by a bright rainbow of fire, broken only by the shadow of the dragon flying far above them. Felipe leaned out the window to try to get a better view, watching something fall from the creature’s body, down into the street below.

By the time Felipe had dressed himself and rushed outside, the dragon was gone, and half the village seemed to be out in the street. He managed to wriggle his way through the crowd that had formed around whatever the dragon had dropped, his heart in his throat. Half of him knew what he would find in the middle of the crowd, knowing the dragon’s habits as well as anybody did by now, but part of him still hoped…

A few grumbling men stood aside to let Felipe into the middle of the crowd, muttering about rudeness. Felipe stopped dead, eyes wide. Of course it was. What else would it be?

Hamilton’s broken body lay lifeless in the street, with parents trying to pull their children’s eyes away from it and men mumbling about who should be the first to tell the king of the fate of his latest slayer.

Felipe gulped, knowing what this meant. He was mad. He knew he was mad. But he was going to have to go for the dragon.

 

The king looked at Felipe as if he was insane, and Felipe was inclined to agree with him. He only glanced a couple of times in Raffaela’s direction, smiling a little at the smile on her face. She looked worried, though. Proud, happy, but worried.

“You?” Raffaela’s father said.

“Yes, your majesty,” Felipe said.

“You want to try to kill the dragon,” the king clarified.

“I am going to kill the dragon,” Felipe said, looking up at the king. His heart was thumping in his throat and he wasn’t entirely sure how much longer he would last without being sick, but he tried not to think about that. “Your majesty,” he added quickly, looking away and blushing.

“Why?” the king asked, suspiciously.

“Well, your majesty,” Felipe said, allowing himself a small smile. “It would be an honour, you know. And I… I wish to marry the princess.”

The room fell silent and Felipe got the feeling he probably shouldn’t be smiling. The king was already convinced he was mad, he was sure, but the look on his face was almost horrified now, and everyone else in the room had a similar expression.

Except Lady Maldonado. And Raffaela.

“Well…” the king said, eventually. “You’ve quite a plan there.”

“Well I…” Felipe’s eyes flicked between the king and his daughter, not entirely sure what to say now. “I think it may be what the princess wants also?”

He knew he was walking along a very thin line here, but he wasn’t sure how carefully he was doing do. The king turned to his daughter, looking for a comment from Raffaela. Thankfully, Raffaela smiled, and nodded.

“You would marry this… commoner?” the king said slowly. “If he kills the dragon?”

Raffaela nodded again, not even stopping to think. “I would marry him anyway, if I had the choice.”

 

Felipe didn’t get the big send off Hamilton had had. If he was honest, he didn’t want one. He stood at the bottom of the hill where he had made his promise to Raffaela, beside a horse he had been given for the task. Fernando was shaking his head beside him, still convinced he was mad. Hamilton’s death had only made everybody more certain Felipe was stupid or suicidal. The king had not joined the small party that had come together to send the unlikely hero off, but Raffaela and Gabriela had come in his place.

Felipe _did not_ gulp has he looked towards the forest he was going to have to travel through before he even reached where the dragon lived, but he wasn’t afraid to admit he was a little nervous. Navigating the forest was going to be dangerous enough.

“Be safe, ok,” Raffaela said, quietly. “I do not care if you come back with the dragon’s head or not, just that you come back.”

“The next time you see me, I will be a dragon slayer,” Felipe promised, a grin barely masking his nerves.

He’d been given everything he needed. Or he had been given weapons at least, and a shield that looked like it had spent the last three years as a door stop. He had been hoping for a little bit of armour of some kind, but he wasn’t even sure what good that would do.

“Promise me you will be safe,” Raffaela said again.

“I promise I will try,” Felipe said quietly, taking Raffaela’s hand and brushing his lips against her knuckles.

Raffaela blushed, glancing over Felipe’s shoulder at Fernando, who was talking quietly to the horse and pretending nothing was happening. Felipe just grinned, letting Raffaela’s hand go before turning to his friend.

“You are crazy,” Fernando said again.

“I do not really have much of a choice,” Felipe said. If he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Raffaela – which he wanted to do more than anything else in the world – then he was going to have to try.

“Crazy,” Fernando said again, shaking his head, but he still hugged Felipe and helped the shoe maker onto his horse.

“I will not be long,” Felipe promised.

With a small prayer that that wasn’t the last time he spoke to another human being, Felipe rode off towards the forest.

Gabriela sighed, watching him go.

“It is a shame,” she said, quietly. “He made good shoes. Next time you will have to seduce somebody who has no use.”

“You don’t think he’s coming back, do you?” Raffaela said.

“Darling, I have more faith that Pastor will figure out a way to pleasure me without buying me expensive gifts before _anybody_ kills the dragon,” Gabriela said, putting an arm around her friend. “Maybe we should go and ask Pastor if there are any nobles he doesn’t like. You can seduce them and send them to their deaths.”

Raffaela sighed. “He will come back,” she said.

“Yes,” Gabriela said, leading Raffaela back to the castle. “Until then, shall we start looking at other eligible bachelors to kill?”


	4. A Stranger's Kindness

The forest was dense and so dark Felipe couldn’t even tell if the sun was still in the sky above the leafy balcony. The horse had slowed down after walking for what must have been a couple of hours, and Felipe wasn’t entirely sure how to make it go any faster, so he let it be. The animal seemed fairly good at navigating the precarious paths that wound its way through the forest, and Felipe was glad he could just sit and let the journey happen. It was giving him a little time to prepare some kind of plan.

Just going up to the dragon and trying to stab it wasn’t going to work. Going and attacking it any way wasn’t going to work. If it did, one of the other dozens of men who had gone in to try that method would have succeeded. If he was going to slay the dragon, he was going to have to be clever. He was going to have to watch the dragon, work out its weakness and use that against it.

How he was going to manage to watch the dragon without it killing him, he hadn’t figured out yet.

It was getting darker. Felipe knew in the back of his mind that probably had something to do with the fact it was getting later. The sun would be setting. But he couldn’t deny that the branches and leaves above his head were getting denser and denser. The forest wasn’t giving up any time soon. If it was getting denser, he reasoned, it meant he wasn’t going around in circles. He was going in a straight line, deep into the forest’s heart. That was something to be thankful for, he guessed.

The horse slowed down to a complete stop when it was almost too dark to see. Felipe sighed, wriggling a little and digging his heels into the horse’s sides in the hope that it might make the horse move again.

Nothing happened.

“Come on,” Felipe hissed.

The horse didn’t move.

“Come on you stupid thing,” Felipe hissed, climbing down from off of the horse, stumbling a little when the drop was a little further than expected, and coming around to face him. “What is the matter? Why are you not moving?”

The horse just blinked and turned away from him, leaning down to nose at the grass on the forest floor.

“Stupid horse,” Felipe muttered, pulling on the reigns in the hope he might be able to lead the horse a little and he might start walking again. “Come _on_.”

The horse didn’t move.

“As if I do not have problems enough without this,” Felipe muttered to himself, looking around the forest. “Am going to have to come up with a plan so I do not have to sacrifice myself to a fire breathing monster but you cannot even do the decent thing and _walk._ Come _on_. Will be a nice treat for you when we get to the other side of the forest, yes? Maybe a carrot? Or an apple? You would like a juicy apple?”

The horse continued to nose at the grass, ignoring Felipe.

“Are the worst horse I have ever come across,” Felipe said. He decided it would probably be better to get back on the horse and try to tempt it into movement that way again. Getting onto the horse wasn’t going to be the most graceful thing in the world, but there wasn’t anybody to see him here anyway.

Felipe had one foot in the stirrup when something cracked behind them and the horse’s head shot up. Felipe rolled his eyes, preparing to push himself up onto the horse’s back when the animal finally started to move. Rather fast.

“Sh-umph.”

Felipe felt his legs pulled from under him and his head smash against the floor as the horse shot off, dragging him along behind it.

“Stop. Stop!”

The horse didn’t stop and Felipe couldn’t get his leg free. It felt as if his leg might be pulled from his torso if he didn’t free himself soon, but the more Felipe wriggled, the more he hit his head on the rocks the horse galloped over.

Something barked behind him and Felipe squirmed around to see what had scared the horse. Wolves. Great. Maybe it would be better to continue to be dragged along for a little while.

The wolves weren’t catching up, he noticed. Maybe they would get tired before the horse did and- Shit. Felipe felt his foot fall a little looser and today was definitely not going to be his day it seemed.

The horse leapt across a tree which had fallen over the path which Felipe hit with another “umph”, his foot coming completely loose from the stirrup and leaving him winded on the forest floor, his head throbbing. Felipe struggled to stand, leaning against the fallen tree for support, but his leg have way instantly and he crashed to the floor as the wolves approached.

 

_“It’s ok. Or, it’s going to be ok. I’ve got you.”_

_Felipe’s head was swimming and he couldn’t quite remember how to open his eyes, but he was fairly sure he could feel something on his leg. Cold hands pressing at the joints, warm hands massaging the underused muscles there._

_“There,” said a voice. “Your leg didn’t look too bad. Not broken. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long to heal up then. Your head… your head’s fucked, I’m sorry mate. But I’ll see what I can do, yeah?”_

_Felipe felt the pressure removed from his legs and, a few moments later, cold hands touched his head, making him gasp._

_Sleep took over again soon after._

_“… and I’m not even sure why I bother talking to you. But I just… it’s nice to have someone to talk to, I guess. Can you… can you hear me? I’m probably talking to a dead man, aren’t I? Well, you’re not dead. But you’re not here right now, are you? Wonder what your name is. Shit, what if you don’t remember what your name is? I’m going to have to name you. Mam let me name our dog when I was five and I called it ‘Dog’. I don’t think I should name you.”_

_Felipe tried to smile, but he couldn’t remember how. It was the same voice, he was sure of it. And the same fingers that had stopped the pain in his head were now trailing through his hair and he wished his could open his eyes, but nothing seemed to be working._

_“Wake up soon,” the voice said. “You need to tell me your name before I call you something stupid.”_

_“You’re going to need to eat something or you’ll starve. Here.”_

_Felipe felt his head lift a moment and suddenly everything started to spin, even with his eyes firmly closed. His eyes fluttered open briefly and he found himself looking at a wooden spoon. Beyond it, everything seemed to get blurry and the only thing Felipe could focus on was a pair of clear blue eyes._

_Exhausted, he closed his eyes again and swiftly lost consciousness once more._

_“You know what. This is the longest I’ve been around another person in over twenty years. I mean, by a long way. Normally they’re dead by now. And I was scared when I found you, you know. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to save you either. But here you are. My first friend. I guess. I hope.”_

_There was a hand against Felipe’s forehead and he managed to force his eyes open again. The same blue eyes peered back at him, a grin beneath them._

_“Hello?”_

_Felipe opened his mouth, tried to reply, but nothing came out._

_“It’s ok. Let me get you some water yeah?”_

_The eyes disappeared. By the time the person they belonged to returned, Felipe had his eyes closed again. Water was poured into his mouth, but he couldn’t swallow. All he could do was splutter._

_“Sorry! Sorry. I’m not very good at this. Not much practice.”_

_Felipe opened his eyes again, gazing up at the person who was trying to look after._

_“Felipe.”_

_“What?” the blue eyed man asked._

_“Asked what my name was,” Felipe croaked, barely able to speak. “Is Felipe.”_

_“You could hear me?” the blue eyed man asked, laughing a little. “My name’s Rob.”_

Rob told him it had been a week by the time he was awake properly. They were in a cave, quite a large cave, Felipe thought. There would be space enough to fit his entire shoe shop in here, with a comfortable gap at the edges. Most of the cave was empty, though. Rob kept Felipe in a corner with old, dirty blankets, kept warm by a strange, blue flamed fire.

Rob said he found him in the forest, scared the wolves off and brought him back to the cave. He was a healer, and it would take a while for Felipe’s legs to get their strength back, but there was nothing he could do for that.

“Your head was a little harder,” Rob admitted. “I’ve never had to do a head before. But it looks like it worked, hey?”

“Think so,” Felipe said, tilting his head from one side to another. He still had a bit of a headache, but he didn’t think it was anything worth complaining about. “Thank you.”

Rob just grinned, staring at him. He hadn’t stopped staring at him since he woke up. Felipe got the feeling he hadn’t stopped staring at him at all. Even when Felipe wasn’t looking at him, he knew Rob’s eyes would be on him.

“It’s fine,” Rob said, when he remembered he was going to have to speak. “I’m just glad I could… I’m just glad I could actually do it.”

“For sure, am glad for this too,” Felipe said. “Do not know where I would be now if it was not for you.”

“Probably in a wolf’s stomach,” Rob said, honestly.

“Well, is definitely a good job that you find me then,” Felipe said, grinning. “But will have to be going soon. Cannot just lie here all day, you know.”

“You’re not going anywhere until your legs are better,” Rob said. “You want to get caught by wolves again?”

“Have to go,” Felipe said. “Am on a quest.”

“Quest or not, you ain’t going anywhere until you’re better,” Rob said.

“Cannot _keep_ me here,” Felipe said, his good humour gone. Sure, this stranger had saved his life and everything, but he didn’t get to tell him what he could and couldn’t do.

“Fine,” Rob said, standing. “Try and leave. You won’t even be able to walk. Good luck on your quest in that state.”

He folded his arms, looking down at Felipe. Felipe glared back at him, pushing himself up so he was sitting up straight. He looked around for something to pull himself up with, but there wasn’t anything.

“I ain’t helping you up,” Rob said. “Your legs aren’t ready yet.”

“Fine,” Felipe said, falling back into a slouch. The stranger was probably right. He wasn’t going to be slaying any dragons with his legs like this. He’d wait here. If Rob was a healer, he might have a better chance of healing quicker here than back in the village. “Shit.”

“What?” Rob asked, suddenly worried.

“Have been gone a week,” Felipe said, suddenly realising. “They are going to be worried about me. They are going to think I am dead.”

“They?” Rob asked, uncertainly. “Who’s they?”

“Everyone,” Felipe said. “They are all going to think the dragon has killed me.”

Felipe wasn’t looking at Rob, and didn’t see how the stranger faltered at the mention of the dragon. He’d told Raffaela he would be back soon, and he had already been gone a week. It would be even longer by the time he was healed properly, and then he still had to go and find the dragon to kill it. He’d made Raffaela think he was dead. She must have been heart broken.

 

“He is gone for seven days and I am already in a crisis,” Gabriela said, throwing herself onto Raffaela’s bed in a fake faint.

“Oh, and why is this?” Raffaela asked. She couldn’t tell if her friend was trying to cheer her up or if Gabriela really thought she was in a crisis, but she would go along with it either way.

“Pastor has decided we need another ball,” Gabriela said, looking up at her friend from where she was lying on the bed. “Or someone has decided we need another ball. Have a beautiful new dress and I need your sweetheart to make me some shoes to go with it.”

Raffaela smiled, pretty sure her friend wasn’t being serious now. But it was no good. She’d known when he left that he wasn’t coming back, no matter what he said.

“Really loved him, Gabby,” Raffaela said, quietly.

“Oh, honey,” Gabriela cooed, jumping up and pulling Raffaela into a hug. “I know you did,” she said, softly, rubbing her friend’s back. “Is difficult to see now, but you will feel better one day. And there is still hope, yes? There is no body. The dragon has not brought back any charred remains like with the others. Maybe he is still alive. Trying to get home. There is a chance?”

Raffaela shook her head. She wanted to believe her friend, but she knew there was no hope anymore. She should never have let him go.


	5. The Dragon's Pet

“Why are you here?” Felipe asked the next day. He knew nothing about this person who had rescued him, not that Felipe had revealed all that much about himself, and the question seemed like a good place to start.

Rob was boiling something over the strange fire, but Felipe didn’t know what. Everything Rob had given him to eat so far tasted ashy and bland, but he didn’t feel like he had much choice around here. The stranger looked up at him again and Felipe felt his eyes piercing his skull.

“What do you mean?”

“Here,” Felipe said. “Is not exactly the kind of place I would want to live.”

“I don’t really have much choice,” Rob said, quietly, taking the little pot away from the fire.

Felipe sat up, sensing a story. “Why not?” Maybe the stranger was ill. He’d known people who had been sent away from the village in the case that their illness was infectious. Not that Rob _looked_ ill.

“You’re a nosey bugger, aren’t you?” Rob said. The grin on his face was clearly fake, but Felipe thought better than to press him.

“Think I could try walking today?” Felipe asked. “Would help to get my strength back, no?”

“It really wouldn’t,” Rob said. “You’re better off staying as you are for now. Don’t worry. It won’t be that long.”

The usual grin was back, his eyes sparkling again. He poured whatever he had been boiling into a little wooden bowl and handed it to Felipe.

“This will help though,” he said, giving Felipe a spoon to go with it. Everything was covered in dust and Rob wiping it on the side of his trousers didn’t really help at all. Rob washed, Felipe could see that, but the grime of living in the cave stuck to his clothes. Felipe had no idea what kind of state he must have been in himself.

“How long have you been here?” Felipe asked, watching Rob eat from the pot with his fingers, sucking the food from them.

Rob stopped and looked up at Felipe again, embarrassed a little. “I don’t usually eat like this,” he said. “I’ve only got one spoon though. Never needed another.”

“How long have you been here?” Felipe asked again. He was beginning to get the feeling Rob wasn’t really entirely there in his head. Maybe that was why he lived here.

Rob shrugged, looking away again. “Dunno. Twenty years. A little over.”

“Twenty years?” Felipe cried. “You have been here for twenty years?”

“A little over,” Rob said.

“Why?”

“I don’t have a choice,” Rob snapped back. “Do you think I’ve wanted to be kept in this bloody cave all my life?”

“Why don’t you just leave?” Felipe asked. It wasn’t exactly as if Rob was chained to some boulder or something. In fact, he’d have had to have left the cave to rescue Felipe from the wolves, unless Felipe had somehow managed to crawl through the forest to here.

Rob didn’t reply, turning back to his food, but he didn’t dip his fingers into the stew again. Felipe watched him closely, not sure what to say but knowing he wanted an answer. Something was going on here that he didn’t understand.

 

“We should go and find him,” Raffaela announced. Gabriella was playing with her hair, combing her fingers through it before she pinned it up ready for the ball.

It had been nearly two weeks now and there was still no sign of Felipe. Usually there would be _something_ by now, and Raffaela was still hopeful that that was a good thing. The dragon liked to deliver its victims back to the village, to prove what it had done. If Felipe wasn’t back by now, one way or another, it meant he was still out there. It had to.

“We?” Gabriella asked. “Please do not tell me you are planning on doing anything stupid.”

“Someone has to do something,” Raffaela said, standing and pulling Gabriella up with her when her friend’s fingers were still tangled in her hair. “Am not going to let that dragon terrorise us anymore.”

“You are not going anywhere,” Gabriella said. “I will sit on you, and I won’t get off through pain nor pleasure. You are not going after that dragon.”

Gabriella folded her arms, determinedly. She wasn’t letting her friend go anywhere. Raffaela might be weak enough to let someone she cared about go and get themselves killed, but _she_ wasn’t.

“But I cannot just sit around and do nothing, Gabby,” Raffaela cried. “Need to do something.”

“You think Felipe is going to be very impressed when he comes back and you have disappeared?” Gabriela asked, holding onto her friend to stop Raffaela storming off. “He will not. Need to be here for when he comes back and then if he is hurt you can take care of him, yes.”

“Felipe is not coming back alone,” Raffaela said. “Should not have let him go. Was a stupid thing to do. Should not have allowed father to let him go. Have lost him.”

“Maybe,” Gabriela said. She was going to have to be honest with Raffaela. She doubted the princess would listen to her if she pretended that everything was definitely going to be ok. “But what can we do now? Maybe you send a search party for him, but you do not go. Because _I_ cannot let _you_ go, ok? Cannot lose my best friend.”

 

Rob offered Felipe a hand after breakfast. Felipe wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be doing with the hand offered. He looked up at Rob, who just grinned and thrust his hand at Felipe again.

“Take it then,” Rob said, laughing.

“You say I should not stand,” Felipe said.

“So you _do_ listen,” Rob said. “I know, but that was the other day. Now, I think you might be ready for a bit of a walk. Or a try at walking anyway.”

Felipe took the hand and let Rob pull him up, leaning against the taller man so he didn’t fall over. He’d never really realised just _how_ tall Rob was until they were standing next to one another. Or, standing and leaning together, as was more accurate.

“How does that feel?” Rob asked, stepping away a little but still letting Felipe have his arm to steady himself with.

“Hurts,” Felipe said. He wasn’t complaining, just telling it as it was. It did hurt. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and walk.

“Yeah, it will hurt for a couple of days,” Rob said. “That’s not going to change unless you move them though. Do you want to see if you can walk to the spring?”

There was a little spring of water at the back of the cave. Felipe had seen Rob collecting water from there a couple of times. It wasn’t that far to walk, he thought, only a couple of strides for Rob.

Felipe nodded and, doing his best to not have to lean on Rob, began the walk to the spring. Each step was more painful than the last and, a couple of times, Felipe stumbled into Rob, tripping on his own feet. He would have fallen flat on his face if it weren’t for the healer there to catch him.

“You’re doing great,” Rob said.

“Do not need patronising,” Felipe muttered through clenched teeth, trying to ignore the pain that shot up his legs with every step.

It felt like it took hours to reach the spring, but Felipe was sure it couldn’t have been that long. He collapsed heavily on the floor beside it, Rob grinning and sitting down beside him.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“Awful,” Felipe replied, watching Rob pull his tattered trousers up his leg to reveal scarred legs and bruised knees. Rob placed his hands over Felipe’s knee and it was cold again. Strange. “How do you learn to do this?” Felipe asked.

“Born with it, weren’t I?” Rob said, grinning up at him. “Parents could do it too.”

“Is pretty special,” Felipe said. He’d never met a real healer before. He’d seen people who burned incense and mashed herbs into pastes and _called_ themselves healers, but he’d never met anybody who could do what Rob did.

“Really?” Rob asked, surprised.

“Where you are from, there are lots of healers?” Felipe asked.

“I’m from here mate,” Rob said, moving onto Felipe’s other leg.

“Must have been somewhere else before,” Felipe said, watching Rob work. “Said you have been here for twenty years, but you do not look twenty.”

“Thanks,” Rob said, flicking Felipe’s knee and making his entire leg twitch. “There. You didn’t do bad. I reckon another week or so and you can probably go home.”

“Cannot go home,” Felipe said, dropping his enquiry into the healer’s past. “Cannot go home until I have killed the dragon.”

Rob sighed and shook his head. “Trust me, mate, just leave the dragon.”

“Do not call me ‘mate’,” Felipe snapped. Even people he didn’t know thought he wouldn’t be able to defeat the monster. Was it really _that_ stupid a thought?

“You’ll just get yourself killed,” Rob said. “Trust me. There’s no point even trying.”

“Do not know this,” Felipe said.

“Yes, I do.”

“Cannot know this,” Felipe said. “There has to be a way. The dragon must have a weakness. All things do. I will find it. And then I will kill it.”

It _sounded_ pretty simple, though he knew it wasn’t going to be quite so easy.

Rob just shook his head. “I know, Felipe,” he said again. “It doesn’t have a weakness. You try to attack it and it will kill you.”

“How do you know?” Felipe cried.

“Because it lives here,” Rob shouted back.

 _That_ silenced the shoe maker. Rob fell back from where he was sitting on his knees, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes. Felipe just stared at him.

“It lives here?” Felipe asked, quietly, after a short silence.

Rob sighed and nodded, waving a hand around the cave. “Well… sort of. It comes when it’s needed, but this is the place you’ll find it.”

Felipe looked around the cave. It was definitely big enough for the dragon to live in. And it explained the fire which was glowing the same brilliant blue over from where they had walked. It also explained the few abandoned weapons Felipe had spotted lying about. An old sword here and there. A shield in one corner and a spear in another. Felipe had assumed they were what Rob had collected to protect himself, but if slayers came and died here, they would have left them behind.

“It brought me here when I was eight,” Rob said, quietly, no longer looking at Felipe. “Took me and brought me here, and it’s looked after me ever since. But if I leave, it’ll bring me back.”

Felipe just continued to stare at him, and around the cave, shaking his head. “This cannot be true.”

“Why would I be here if it weren’t true?” Rob asked, and Felipe really couldn’t come up with any other explanation.

“But… why would it do that?” Felipe asked.

Rob shrugged. “No idea,” he said. “It chose me, and now it doesn’t want to let me go. It brings me food, when I have none, keeps me alive…”

“So you are like the dragon’s pet?” Felipe said.

“I am not a pet,” Rob said.

“Sounds like it to me,” Felipe mumbled, but the look Rob gave him told him to drop the subject. “So where is it?”

“I don’t know,” Rob said. “I don’t know where it goes when it’s not needed.”

“What will it do, if it comes back and finds me here?” Felipe asked. As much as he would deny that he couldn’t kill the dragon, there was no way he could do it in this state. If it were to show up now, he wanted to know what would happen.

Rob shrugged. “This has never happened before,” he said. “But, I guess, if you’re not hurting me, it won’t come.”

“You are sure of this?” Felipe asked.

Rob shook his head. “I don’t control it, Felipe. If I could, I wouldn’t be here, would I? But, that’s what I think will happen.”


	6. Waiting

Every walk seemed to hurt less and Felipe couldn’t be sure if that was because he was getting better or if he was just getting used to it, but Rob’s encouragement became less patronising the more he walked and Felipe began to believe he was getting better.

There was still no sign of the dragon, and Felipe wasn’t sure what to make of that. He was getting better. Soon he would be as ready to fight the creature as he had been when he left the village, but if the dragon wasn’t here, he didn’t know where to find it. Maybe it would come when he was ready, when it saw him as a threat.

“Here,” Rob said, handing Felipe the same wooden bowl of watery stew.

“You live off of this?” Felipe asked. He still hadn’t stopped poking questions about the way Rob lived. He understood now that the healer couldn’t leave, but he didn’t understand how he could stay alive and manage to look so… _well_. Well. That was the word Felipe was going to use.

“Yeah,” Rob said, looking down into the pot he was left with. It didn’t really look appetising. “Well, I sometimes go out into the forest. Find mushrooms. Vegetables. Stuff. But it’s usually…”

“The things that the dragon brings?” Felipe asked. He still didn’t understand that part. _Why_ it was keeping Rob here? It stole their livestock from the village to feed a man that didn’t want to be here and it didn’t make any sense.

Rob nodded, dipping his fingers into the watery stew. He’d tried to explain the best he could to Felipe how things worked with the dragon about, but Felipe hadn’t really understood. It wasn’t exactly a familiar concept. Once he was as sure as he could be that the dragon wouldn’t give him the same treatment as Rob, stopping him from leaving, Felipe had been content. It wouldn’t come until he was strong enough or there was another threat.

Actually…

“It must come when they send the lambs then,” Felipe said, thinking back to the night up on the hill with Raffaela.

“They send lambs?” Rob asked.

“They sacrifice the weakest lambs to the dragon,” Felipe explained, as he had done with Raffaela. “So that it doesn’t come and take their good stock. The dragon must come then, to collect the lambs. Have _seen_ it do that. So… so will maybe come before I am strong enough to fight it.”

“If it doesn’t see you as a threat, it won’t hurt you,” Rob said, quickly, but Felipe could tell he wasn’t too sure on that, and Felipe didn’t want to risk it. “Do you know when the next sacrifice is?” Rob said, a little slower, clearly as unwilling to risk his friend’s life as Felipe was.

“How long has it been since I came?” Felipe asked, again. The days all seemed to muddle into a mess of being awake and being asleep now.

Rob thought about it, counting the days through in his head. “Twelve days,” he said.

Felipe nodded, trying to work out how long he would have left until the dragon showed up again with more food for Rob.

“A week,” he said, quietly.

“What?”

“Seven days and then they will take the dragon more lambs.”

 

“She is still asking for a search party?” Pastor asked, watching his wife pace across the bedroom, back and forth, like she had been for the past hour. It seemed like, since the shoe maker left, he never saw his wife, as she spent so much time comforting her friend.

Gabriela nodded, stopping so she could spin around and pace the other way again, but Pastor stopped her.

“You are going to make yourself sick with worry,” he said, gently. “Is not good for you, you know.”

“I know,” Gabriela said, quietly, watching Pastor’s fingers gently drag across her stomach. “But I cannot help it. She is going to get herself killed if they do not send a search party.”

“If nobody wishes to go, what can they do?” Pastor asked, lifting Gabriela’s chin so she was looking up at him. “Everybody knew he was on a suicide mission. They are not going to go and search for him when it will only lead to them being killed too.”

Gabriela held his eyes for a moment, but Pastor couldn’t figure out what the look in his wife’s eyes meant. He knew her friend could make her do crazy things sometimes, and he hoped this wasn’t one of those times.

“You are not getting any ideas, are you?” he asked, carefully.

“Of course not,” Gabriela said, pulling away from Pastor so she could continue her pacing. “I would not be that stupid. But something has to be done. Maybe you…”

“ _I_ am not going,” Pastor cried. They had already had this discussion, once, when they first started dating and Pastor promised Gabriela he would never do something as reckless as this.

“Maybe you could find someone who would,” Gabriela said. “Someone who would be able to find him. Please, Pastor. If she goes, she will not come back. I will lose my best friend.”

“I will see what I can do,” Pastor said. He didn’t really seem to have much of a choice. If Raffaela went, he knew it would be difficult to convince Gabriela not to go with her. “But I do not know how successful I can be. It is dangerous, and I do not think many people will take the task on.”

“There will be someone,” Gabriela said, confidently, wrapping her arms around her husband and resting her cheek against her chest. “Will be for glory, no? For honour? Someone will want to do it.”

“Yes,” Pastor said, gently, running his fingers through Gabriela’s hair. “There will be someone mad enough.”

 

Usually, Felipe was greeted with the sight of Rob gazing down at him whenever he woke up but, today, it was Felipe who woke first. His dream had been pleasant, even if he couldn’t quite remember what it had been. It involved Rob, he remembered that much. The shoe maker frowned when he opened his eyes, surprised to see Rob still asleep by the ever burning fire. When Felipe turned to the cave mouth, he saw it was already light outside.

Something was wrong.

“Rob?” Felipe called, uncertainly. The distance between them wasn’t far, not even as far as Felipe had been walking, but it was out of reaching distance from where Felipe was sitting. He leaned over to try to wake his friend, but it was too far and he just ended up falling.

He hadn’t walked without Rob there to steady him yet, but if Rob needed help then he needed to give it to him. Shaking, Felipe pushed himself up onto his knees, watching Rob. The healer wasn’t facing him, and Felipe couldn’t see if he was ok. If he was ill, then what? Would the dragon come to look after him? And would it think Felipe was the reason he was ill?

Still shaking, Felipe pushed himself onto his feet, wincing at the pain and biting on his lip to stop himself shouting. Maybe the healer did more than just stand there and wait for Felipe to fall. The shoe maker stumbled forward a couple of steps, screwing his eyes shut as if that might lessen the pain, before his leg gave up and he collapsed, landing with an “umph” on Rob’s chest.

Rob was startled awake, surprised to find the little man lying on his chest, trying to catch his breath. Felipe looked up at Rob and smiled apologetically, trying to push himself off of Rob but only getting more moans from the healer and his hand slipping again.

“Morning,” Rob mumbled, sleepily.

“Yes,” Felipe said, blushing. He dragged his eyes away from Rob, the clear blue eyes making Felipe shiver and blush even more.

“What are you doing?” Rob asked, running a hand through Felipe’s hair and cupping his cheek whilst the other rubbed at the head ache that was starting to grow in his own head.

“Was scared you were ill,” Felipe said, his eyes flicking up to Rob’s again and he found he couldn’t look away this time.

“Why would you think I was ill?” Rob asked, still half asleep.

“You did not wake me up,” Felipe said.

Rob grinned. “You like my wake up calls then?”

“Is not that,” Felipe said, his cheeks growing even warmer. “Just was just scared when you did not.”

“Right,” Rob said. “Do you think you can get off me?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Felipe mumbled, rolling off of Rob so that they were both lying beside one another.

Rob sat up, running a hand through his hair, and looked down at Felipe. He frowned, squinting out of the mouth of the cave to the beautiful sunshine outside. It was late.

“You are ok though?” Felipe asked, carefully, sitting up and ignoring the pain in his own legs.

“Yeah,” Rob said, standing. He still looked confused, squinting at the light that was shining into the otherwise dull cave. He left Felipe on the floor by the fire, wondering over to the mouth of the cave to see if he could make sense of his late start.

Felipe sighed and lay back down, hoping that might take the pain away from his legs. It wouldn’t be long now until the dragon came with the sacrificed lambs, only a few days if he’d counted correctly, and Felipe still didn’t know what he was supposed to do. Even Rob wasn’t sure what the dragon would do to him if it found him here, and he was in no fit state to fight it. Maybe Rob would be able to help, or defend him, or _something_. He could not end up another burnt crisp dropped into the village square for all to see. He could not prove them right.

Rob leaned over him, intruding his thoughts. The confused frown was gone now, and the healer grinned down at him.

“How are your legs?” he asked.

“Hurt,” Felipe mumbled sitting up. “A bit.” Quite a lot actually, but as soon as Rob’s hands were pressed against his knee, he felt instantly refreshed. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Rob said with the same dopey grin and twinkling eyes. “Just a bit tired, that’s all.”

“Thought you might be ill,” Felipe said. “Was worried.”

“You said,” Rob said, chuckling. “Nah, I’m fine. Nice to have someone worry over me though.”

“Was not worrying over _you_ ,” Felipe said, quickly, but there was that blush again. He shouldn’t have been feeling this embarrassed when Rob looked at him like that, but he couldn’t stop himself. He watched the healer’s hands massage his calf and bit his lip. “Was worried about the dragon.”

“It won’t hurt you,” Rob said, quietly, but he still didn’t sound as confident as Felipe wanted him to. “It won’t hurt you unless it sees you as a threat.”

“And how does it know I am not a threat?” Felipe asked. “Will give me a chance?”

“It’ll know, alright,” Rob said, annoyed.

Felipe’s eyes snapped up from Rob’s hands to his face, but Rob wasn’t looking at him now.

“Am sorry,” Felipe said, quietly. “Am just… cannot go back to the village like the last slayer did.”

“Why are you here?” Rob asked, swapping sides so he could take Felipe’s other leg in his hands.

“What do you mean?” Felipe asked.

“I’ve seen slayers, and you’re not one of them,” Rob said. “So why are you here? Why are you trying?”

“Have to try,” Felipe said, wincing a little when Rob’s hand squeezed a little too tightly on his knee.

“No you don’t,” Rob said. “Plenty of people don’t try.”

“Have to,” Felipe said again. “I… I’m going to marry the princess.”

Rob snorted, holding back laughter. Felipe’s eyes narrowed, annoyed.

“What?”

“You’re trying to kill a dragon so you can marry a princess,” Rob said, a smug grin on his face that only annoyed Felipe even more.

“We are in love,” Felipe said. “And we would already be married if it weren’t for the dragon.”

“Right,” Rob said but the grin said he didn’t believe him. If Felipe didn’t need his arms to keep himself sat up, they would be folded by now.

“You do not believe me?” he asked, annoyed.

“No offense, mate, but you ain’t exactly a prince, are you?” Rob said.

“Does not matter,” Felipe said. “We are in love, have been in love for years. And I will do anything to make her happy. _You_ would not know.”

“Wouldn’t know what?” Rob asked, the grin falling from his face a little.

“Would not know what it is like to be in love,” Felipe spat.

Rob’s hands stilled for a moment before he stood. Without saying a word, the healer left Felipe on the floor by the fire, retracing his steps out of the cave.

“Shit. Rob! Rob! Did not… did not mean it!”

Rob didn’t turn back.

 

Felipe was woken by a gentle kick in his side a couple of hours later, Rob looking down at him. He’d been crying, Felipe could tell, and tears still swam in his eyes.

“Sorry,” Felipe mumbled again, rubbing his own eyes.

“Do you know what it’s like?” Rob asked, tears choking his voice.

“What?”

“Do you know what it’s like to be lonely?” Rob asked. “And I mean really lonely. Not just sleeping alone at night when you’d rather be with some girl?”

“Rob, I did not-.”

“Twenty years, Felipe,” Rob spat. “Twenty years and I haven’t said as much as “hello” to another human being. Anybody who comes here winds up dead within seconds. Do you have any idea what _that_ ’s like?”

“No,” Felipe said, hanging his head a little. He couldn’t look at Rob, who was still stood over him and struggling to keep the tears from his face.

“And then you come along,” the healer continued. “And I think: ‘ey up! We might actually be able to get somewhere with this one. I might _actually_ be able to make a friend. But you- you just can’t wait to leave, can you? And it isn’t that I blame you, because I don’t. If I had the choice, I would leave. I wouldn’t even think twice about it. But it still hurts, you know? So you don’t have to go and remind me how fucked up I am, alright? You don’t have to say anything else to hurt me, because leaving is going to be enough. Believe me.”

“I’m sorry,” Felipe said. “Mean it. Was not trying to hurt you.”

“Of course not,” Rob said, sitting down beside Felipe. Felipe wrapped his arm around the healer, pulling him closer.

“You know it is not fucked up,” Felipe said, quietly.

“Just leave it, Felipe,” Rob muttered.

“Is not,” Felipe said. “You are not fucked up. Am sorry that I said some things to make you think this.”

Rob shook his head, resting it against the smaller man’s shoulder. They sat for a while in silence, tears trickling down Rob’s face again. Felipe thought about reaching up to wipe them but, really, he needed his other hand to keep himself from falling over again. After a while, Rob went heavy, his breathing telling Felipe he was asleep again. The healer wasn’t well, but Felipe didn’t want to wake him.

“You will come back to the village with me, when the dragon is dead,” Felipe said, watching Rob sleep. “I am going to kill the dragon, and then you are coming back with me. Will be welcome there. Do not even think we have a healer. And then you can have a life again. And you will have friends. Will have me, and am sure Raffaela will love to meet you. And my friends. Will have lots. And maybe you love someone one day like I love Raffaela. Or maybe you don’t. Does not matter. But you are not fucked up, ok? Not one bit.”


	7. The Dragon

Felipe woke with a start, shivering against the cold. The fire beside him cast an unusual glow around the cave and Felipe could tell without even looking that it was still night outside. He sat up, trying to figure out what had woken him, and was surprised to not find Rob lying beside him. He’d curled up at the healer’s side when they eventually turned in for the night, not wanting to have to strain to leave the fire side where he’d sat for most of the day. Now Rob was nowhere to be seen. Or whatever had woken Felipe up.

“Rob?”

His voice echoed back at him but the healer gave no reply and Felipe couldn’t spot him in the awful light.

“Rob?”

No, the healer definitely wasn’t here. Maybe he was still sore over the “love” remark, Felipe thought. He’d been quiet all evening, when he eventually woke up, and, even though he was smiling, Felipe could tell he didn’t mean it. He hadn’t just slept it off. So maybe he’d gone off for a walk. And left him alone. Felipe didn’t like the sound of that.

The shoe maker pushed himself up, still wobbling on his legs. It wasn’t that far to the edge of the cave and Felipe figured Rob couldn’t have gone that far. He’d probably only wanted to get some air.

Felipe had only just stood up when the noise that had woken him rang through the air. It was the same roar, the same rainbow of fire visible through the mouth of the cave.

No. No, the dragon wasn’t supposed to be coming for a few days. They had a couple of days until the lambs were sent to slaughter and- unless Felipe had miscounted the days. He must have miscounted the days. And now the dragon was coming here and without Rob to stop the dragon thinking he was a threat. What if it thought Felipe had driven the healer away?

The sky cleared and there was a thud as something landed outside. Felipe dived back under the dirty blankets he’d been left in. He would, _of course_ , have to fight the dragon eventually, but he was in no fit state now, and this was the best plan of action he thought.

The creature was larger in real life than what it appeared to be in the sky, a dark, bulky mass with a long neck snaking away from the body and a horned head at the end of it. The tail stretched out of the cave mouth, curling into a ball and uncurling without the dragon paying attention to it. The scales seemed to glow and shimmer, sometimes silver and sometimes a strange rainbow, like that of oil left on the street in the rain. But it was the monster’s eyes that caught Felipe’s attention. They were blue, like all the rumours said. A beautiful, clear blue Felipe was sure he had seen before.

The dragon turned its head in his direction and Felipe froze, the blanket covering everything but his eyes as he watched the dragon turn away again.

 _Looking for Rob_ , he told himself, but the thought didn’t settle well with him.

Felipe watch the dragon’s tail recurl and, as it did, shrink back into the bulk of the dragon’s body until it disappeared into nothing. The monster let out a horrific screech that pierced Felipe’s head and made him screw his eyes shut, his brain rattling inside his skull. There was the roar of flames again and, for a few seconds, everything was warm and Felipe thought for a moment the flames might be aimed at him, but the heat died out again a couple of seconds later and, his ears still ringing, Felipe opened his eyes.

The dragon was gone. Rob, however, lay, naked, in its place. Felipe sat up slowly as Rob did the same, the healer apparently not noticing Felipe was awake as he started to crawl toward the spring at the back of the cave.

It didn’t make any sense. Or it _did_. Felipe had figured out exactly what happened but… but there was no way that was true.

Felipe watched Rob reach the spring, gulping down water like an animal, as if he hadn’t drunk for days. Wobbling on his still sore legs, Felipe stood, his hands finding one of the swords that lay, abandoned, nearby. Rob practically collapsed into the stream that leaked away from the spring, his chest rising and falling heavily. Using the sword like a crutch, Felipe crept as best he could to the healer.

Rob looked up just as Felipe attempted to raise the sword, but no fear registered in his eyes. Felipe froze again, his entire body shaking with the weight of the sword and the strain on his legs, but Rob didn’t try to stop him.

“You’re the dragon,” Felipe said.

“Sit down, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Rob said, gently.

“You are the dragon,” Felipe repeated, not moving.

“Felipe.”

Felipe lifted the sword as best he could, taking a swing at Rob. More by chance than skill, the blade came into contact with the healer’s bare side but didn’t penetrate the flesh there. Instead, the very solid metal of the blade turned to dust.

His own momentum threw Felipe to the floor.

“Felipe! Are you ok?”

“Get away from me,” Felipe spat trying to push himself away from Rob but only managing to wriggle into a more uncomfortable position.

“Felipe, let me help you,” Rob snapped.

“You are the dragon,” Felipe said again. “You kept me here and did not even tell me. Fed me lies and made me feel sorry for you when all this time you have been fattening me up, haven’t you? Waiting so you can eat me. Do injured people not taste good?”

“For fuck sake, Felipe, I don’t eat people,” Rob snapped, standing. He left Felipe to go and collect his clothes, cheeks and chest blushing red under Felipe’s glare. Felipe couldn’t move, barely able to straighten his legs from where they were folded under him without the pain causing dots in front of his eyes.

There was no sign of injury on Rob’s body at all, the now destroyed sword not even leaving a mark, Felipe noticed as he watched Rob pull his dirty shirt over his head again. If it weren’t for the pain in his legs, Felipe would think this were all a dream because there was no way… no way Rob could be…

“You’re the dragon,” Felipe said again, in disbelief rather than shock this time.

“Yes, I think we’ve established that,” Rob said, coming back over to Felipe once he was dressed. “Do you want me to help your legs?”

“I want you to tell me what is going on,” Felipe said, glaring at Rob. Rob just stood, looking down at him with a tired look on his face. Felipe looked down at his legs, the dots clearing a little. “Yes, please.”

Rob sat beside him, taking Felipe’s leg in his hands like he had done countless times before. He didn’t look at the shoe maker’s face as he spoke.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I never meant for you to find out.”

“You thought you would not wake me?” Felipe asked. “With the screeching?”

“It hurts, you know,” Rob said. “Your bones shrinking and changing shape. It’s not exactly pain free.”

“You are… you are in pain?” Felipe asked.

“Not now, no,” Rob said. “It goes away quickly. I just get thirsty. And hungry, if I haven’t eaten. But there were lambs. I’m fine, don’t worry. I don’t eat people.”

“I don’t understand,” Felipe said.

“I’d be surprised if you did,” Rob said. “It isn’t exactly the most normal thing in the world, I guess.”

“You mean they are not all dragon people where you are from?” Felipe asked.

“I wouldn’t be here if they were, would I?” Rob said. He sighed, clearly trying to figure out how to explain to Felipe. “I was eight when it first happened. I don’t remember much. I was at the orphanage and-.”

“Orphanage?” Felipe repeated. “You say your parents had powers and were healers too? You lie about this as well?”

“No,” Rob said quickly, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He was going to have to start earlier than that. “My parents were healers. And, no, that wasn’t really common where I was from either. The people thought they were witches or something, and that I was… I don’t even know, but I wasn’t their child. Someone’s first born, like in the fairy tales, or something. I don’t know. But my parents were witches, supposedly, and they killed them, and I was sent to the orphanage until they figured out where my “real” parents were. And then it happened.”

“You turn into a dragon?” Felipe asked.

Rob nodded, not looking at Felipe as he healed the shoe maker’s leg again.

“I don’t really remember it properly,” Rob said, quietly. “The other kids were calling me a witch.”

“And so you turn into a dragon to convince them you are not a witch?” Felipe said, sarcastically.

“I don’t have to explain, you know,” Rob said.

“Sorry.”

Rob shot him a glare as he moved onto Felipe’s other leg, and Felipe was sure he wasn’t being as gentle as he usually was.

“They thought it would be a good idea to do some “tests”, the kids,” Rob said. “And that was just basically beating the shit out of me to find out if I would magic it away. And then the dragon came. It came to stop them. To protect me. I don’t remember much. Just burning. And flying. We’re not the same mind, you know? I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like, the dragon’s mind takes over and I’m still in there, but I can’t do anything to control it.”

“It brought you here?” Felipe asked, quietly.

Rob nodded. “I woke up in the morning and I was here,” he said. “I… you don’t believe that kind of thing, you know. I thought I must have imagined it. That… that it _had_ brought me here, and then flown off or something. I didn’t realise what had really happened because… would _you_? Would you, if you hadn’t seen me?” Rob sat back rubbing his face with both hands and screwing his eyes shut. “I had no idea where I was, but I found my way back. The village isn’t far. I thought… I don’t know what I thought but I didn’t want to be here when the dragon got back. I got back and the orphanage was gone. Half the village was gone. Dust and ash. And I got there and they were pulling this girl from the rubble of the orphanage. Her name was… it was…” Rob rubbed the heel of his hand into his eye, trying to get himself to stop crying. “I don’t remember. But her… this entire side of her body was burned. All pink and scaly. And I _knew_ , you know. I knew it was me.”

He fell silent, his eyes still closed and his hands holding his face. Felipe tilted his head, not sure if he should trust him or not.

“You’ve killed people,” Felipe said.

“I can’t control it,” Rob said. “I’ve tried. I’ve tried everything I can but it won’t go away. It won’t leave me.”

Felipe didn’t know how to answer. Every sensible part of his brain was telling him to run, but he couldn’t stand, let alone run. And Rob… It could all be a trick. Felipe knew that. But Rob didn’t look like he was about to attack anyone. He certainly didn’t seem happy with the situation.

“What did they say, back in your village?” Felipe asked.

“They thought the dragon must have taken me to my parents,” Rob said. “That’s why I wasn’t hurt. And they tried to get me to tell them how I summoned it. I said I didn’t know. Because I didn’t. I didn’t understand any of it. But then they got angrier. They thought that I was lying. And with every lie came with a slap on the wrist. And then more. And more. And… I guess you can guess what happened. I didn’t go back again.”

He opened his eyes to try to figure out what Felipe was thinking, but the shoe maker’s face was blank and Rob quickly looked away again, tears stinging his eyes. He was exhausted and just wanted to go to sleep but there wasn’t going to be any chance of that any time soon.

“It comes when you are getting hurt?” Felipe asked.

“It comes when it thinks I can’t survive without it,” Rob said. “So when there are lambs, it knows I need them to survive, and it comes. But it’s normally just if someone comes to try to kill me.”

“We are trying to kill the dragon,” Felipe said.

“It is part of me,” Rob said. “It won’t leave. And you can’t kill it. Believe me. I’ve tried.”

The question on the tip of Felipe’s tongue disappeared when he registered what Rob had said. Rob looked up at the silence again, but he couldn’t stand to look at the shock on his friend’s face and turned away again, shaking his head.

“When you’re legs are better, go back home,” he said. “There’s nothing else you can do, unless you want to end up dead. And I don’t want that to happen.”

“Cannot just go home,” Felipe said. “Am not just going to leave you here with it. It’s not fair.”

“I _can’t_ get rid of it,” Rob snapped. “There’s nothing you can do.”

“It only comes when it thinks you need it,” Felipe said. “In the village, you won’t need it. It won’t come.”

“You really think it’s that easy?” Rob laughed darkly.

“Yes,” Felipe said. “Isn’t it?”

Rob shook his head. “You don’t understand. What if something goes wrong, hey? What if I end up killing half the village because someone decides they don’t like me? Then what?”

“Will not happen,” Felipe insisted. “How could anybody not like you? Besides the obvious.”

Rob almost laughed again. There was no way it could really be that simple, and the shoe maker was clearly delusional.

“You want to run the risk?” he asked. “You’re so scared your princess is going to be disappointed if you haven’t killed the dragon. What’s she going to say when she finds out you’ve brought it back?”

“She is not going to find out,” Felipe said. “You saved my life and now I am going to return the favour. Have a plan, don’t worry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, congrats if you already figured it out. I'm not all that good at this surprise thing anymore, am I?


	8. Home Again

The dragon was still alive. Raffaela had been sat at the top of the hill, where Felipe had first shown her the delights the creature could bring, when the lambs were sacrificed again. The dragon had come like it did before and taken the innocent animals lives again. This time there was no awe. There was no amazement. Raffaela was shaking as she sat, Gabriela at her side as she had been most of the time Felipe had been gone, and watched the dragon illuminate the sky again.

“The search party will find him,” Gabriela said, wrapping her arms around Raffaela when she noticed how much she was shaking. “He will be lost in the woods or something. If the dragon has killed him, he would be back by now.”

Raffaela shook his head. Maybe some didn’t come back. Maybe they were only returned when there was a big parade to see them off. Maybe the dragon made a mistake and took him back to the wrong village. Maybe… she didn’t know, but she knew Felipe wouldn’t be coming back. The search party had been gone for days and, no, they didn’t seem like the most competent of people, but Raffaela knew they would be back by now if there was any hope of finding him.

“Come on, you cannot lose hope,” Gabriela said, squeezing her friend gently. “You saw how determined he was.”

“That doesn’t _mean_ anything,” Raffaela mumbled, watching the silhouette of the creature retreat into the distance. “He isn’t coming back.”

 

“Are you sure you can make it?” Rob asked for what had to be the hundredth time. Felipe just huffed and hobbled over to where Rob was standing over the fire. He didn’t want to put it out just yet. It had been burning the entire time he had been here and putting it out meant definitely going along with Felipe’s plan, and he didn’t know if that was such a good idea.

“Can get to you, can’t I?” Felipe said.

“But there are wolves in the woods,” Rob said.

“Well, if we are attacked by wolves you can turn into a dragon and kill them,” Felipe joked. He’d had a while to come to terms with what his new friend was whilst they waited for his legs to heal sufficiently. He still wasn’t sure what to make of Rob anymore, but there had been no more incidents and Felipe was still alive, so he was going to try and trust him.

Rob just glared at him, not liking the joke.

“Fine,” Felipe said. “We will not go through the forest. Will go around it. Will take us longer but if you insist.”

“I do,” Rob said, sternly. He wasn’t going to get Felipe killed by taking any short cuts.

“Alright then,” Felipe said. “Are you going to put that out or what?”

He took the bowl of water Rob was holding and tipped it over the fire, drowning the flames. Rob bit his lip, looking down at the wet ash. That was it then. Time to go.

“Come on then,” Felipe said, tugging on Rob’s shirt and trying to drag him out of the cave. It was going to take them long enough to get around the forest and he wanted to get back to the village as soon as possible. Ideally, it would be before dark, but he didn’t know how likely that was going to be. He didn’t know how long it would take them to walk around the forest at a normal pace, let alone with his legs still as they were.

It wasn’t with reluctance that Rob left the cave, but there was something tugging at his heart as he said goodbye to the only home he had known for most of his life. Felipe had been good at managing to convince him he could live a life as a normal person, that there wouldn’t be as many dangers in his village as there were living in the wilderness. Rob couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something about the little shoe maker that made him _want_ to believe it. But he was still nervous. He wanted this to work. He never wanted to come to the cave again and he didn’t think he would be able to live with hurting the only friend he’d ever known.

“Are you ok?” Rob asked. He didn’t want to walk in silence but he didn’t know what to say.

“Am fine,” Felipe said, limping along beside him. “Do not have to worry about me anymore.”

“I think I’m always going to worry about you,” Rob said, putting his arm around his friend to stabilise him.

“Think I have enough people worrying about me,” Felipe said. “Raffaela. Fernando. Gabriela will be complaining about her shoes.”

He grinned. He’d always known he was going to be excited to go home but now… It had been weeks. Over a month. He couldn’t imagine what must have been going through Raffaela’s head. She’d been worried enough when he left, let alone now, and Fernando. They were going to be so relieved.

“What was that?” Rob said, stopping. He was sure he’d heard something.

Felipe stopped too, silent. “Was nothing. Come on.”

“I heard something.”

Felipe rolled his eyes and was about to tell him he was being stupid when he heard the noise too. Horses. A lot of them.

 

There was a knock at Raffaela’s bedroom door but whoever was there didn’t wait for her to reply before bursting in. Gabriela threw the door into the wall behind it and grabbed hold of her best friend as she got off of the bed.

“What? What’s happened?”

Gabriela held onto her friends shoulders and just grinned at her. “They found him.”

“What?”

“The search party,” she said, taking hold of Raffaela’s hand and pulling her out of her room and down the stairs. “They found Felipe just the other side of the forest. He’s fine. He’s here and he’s alive.”

“He’s- what? Wait!”

Raffaela pulled her friend to a stop, staring at Gabriela as if she was mad. Felipe couldn’t be alive. He’d been gone too long. Gabriela had been able to hold things together for this long but now Raffaela was sure she had gone crazy too.

“Felipe is here,” Gabriela said. “If you are worried about your hair I am sure your sweetheart will not care what it looks like, as long as it is attached to you.”

“He can’t be here,” Raffaela said, pulling her hand away from Gabriela when her friend tried to continue down the stairs.

“ _Is_ ,” Gabriela said, groaning. “Is here. Have _seen_ him. Has brought a friend with him too. Rescued him from the dragon.”

“You have gone mad,” Raffaela said, shaking her head. There was no way Felipe could be back, let alone have rescued somebody from the dragon.

“Come and see for yourself,” Gabriela insisted, taking hold of Raffaela’s hand and this time she wasn’t taking no for an answer, racing down the stairs and dragging her best friend along behind her.

There was definitely a lot of commotion coming from the entrance hall and Raffaela was surprised to find her father one of the people waiting for her to arrive. She stopped as soon as she saw everyone turn towards her, not sure what to expect. Gabriela was still grinning at her and she looked from her best friend to the crowd, eyes flicking from face to face until she spotted-

“Felipe!”

The shoe maker took a few hobbled steps towards her, but was almost knocked off of his feet when she rushed towards him. This wasn’t real. Raffaela was sure this was a dream, or that the healers had managed to convince her father to let her breath smoked herbs, or _something_ , because there was no way this could be real but…

“Felipe.”

She pulled away from him, holding his face in both her hands and trying to figure out how this trick worked because he could not be back. Felipe grinned at her, tears in his own eyes as he wiped Raffaela’s away before taking her hand and pressing a kiss to the top of it.

“You killed it?” Raffaela asked.

Felipe nodded, his grin growing. “It is not going to be bothering us ever again.”

“Where is the body?” Raffaela’s father asked. “You expect us to believe you killed it without a body.”

“The body turned to ash,” a man Raffaela didn’t recognise said, stepping forward. “I saw it. I would not be able to stand here if it were still alive.”

“And who are you?” the king asked.

“My name is Rob,” the man said.

“Rob what?” the king asked.

Rob faltered again, trying to remember his own last name, but his mind went blank. “I don’t… I don’t remember.”

“He is a healer, your majesty,” Felipe said, jumping in. “Saved my life when I was attacked by wolves, and so I save his by killing the dragon and bringing him here. Is a good healer. And a good man.”

Felipe looked up at his new friend, grinning.

“Smedley,” Rob said, suddenly. “Rob Smedley.”

“The dragon takes him away from where he lives when he was only a child,” Felipe explained. “Has been keeping him captive all of this time. Your majesty.”

“A healer?” the king asked, suspiciously. “What do you use?”

“Nothing,” Rob said. “My hands.”

“Prove it,” the king said. He took a dagger from one of the members of the search party, sliding the blade across the unfortunate volunteer’s hand until blood seeped from the wound.

Rob glanced nervously at Felipe. He’d never doubted his powers before but he knew bad luck had a tendency to follow him. He took the cut hand in both of his own, wiping his thumb across the wound and making the party member wince.

“Sorry,” Rob mumbled, not looking up from what he was doing. Another brush of his thumb against the wound and the bleeding stopped. A third, and only a faint pink line marked where the blade had cut. Rob held out the hand for the king to see.

Raffaela turned to Felipe with wide eyes, unable to believe what she’d seen. Felipe winked, prouder of Rob than the healer himself was.

“That’s remarkable,” the king said, quietly.

Rob shrugged as if it was nothing.

“You must stay here,” the king said. “I have never _seen_ such skills before. You will be the royal doctor.”

“Hang on a second,” Rob said, quickly, pulling himself out of the king’s grip when Raffaela’s father tried to steer him away. He looked down at Felipe in panic but the shoe maker just nodded encouragingly. “I don’t have anything.”

“What?”

“The only things I own are the clothes I’m stood up in,” Rob said.

The king looked over the dirty, ill-fitting clothes.

“I’ve no where to stay,” Rob added.

“He stays with me,” Felipe said, quickly. “Will be no problem, have the room. And then when I am married, he could have the house…”

Felipe grinned at Raffaela, who blushed back, trying to stop herself giggling. She couldn’t really believe this was happening. Not after all this time.

The king looked between his daughter and the shoe maker, and Raffaela could tell he didn’t believe the situation either.

“The dragon is definitely dead,” he said.

“Yes, you majesty,” Felipe lied. “You will not hear from it again.”

“Right then,” the king said, beaming. “I guess we have a wedding to prepare.”


	9. Village Life

Every morning Rob woke in a panic, not sure what he would expect when he opened his eyes. No matter how soft the pillow beneath his head, he was always sure he would find himself back in the cave, a disaster having happened in the night that meant he had to flee. But no. There were no incidents. The dragon was as gone as Felipe said it was.

Felipe was in his shop when Rob came down the stairs in the morning, having eaten a small chunk of bread. The first night, Rob had made himself sick eating foods he hadn’t seen for decades at the castle, and had been eating carefully ever since. Adjusting back to a normal life wasn’t as swift and easy as Felipe liked to make out it was.

“You still have to work?” Rob asked, watching Felipe stitch the boot he had between his knees.

“Am the best shoe maker in this village,” Felipe said, not looking up from his work. “Cannot just abandon that.”

“Abandoned it to come and get me,” Rob pointed out.

Felipe seemed to stiffen, his hands stopping work, and he suddenly became very aware of Rob’s gaze on him. He didn’t dare look up to see if Rob had noticed the change in atmosphere, swallowing hard before answering.

“Abandoned it for Raffaela,” he said.

“Of course,” Rob said.

He had noticed.

They were saved by the bell when the shop door opened. Felipe looked up and grinned when he found Fernando stood there.

“I go away for a month and now he feels the need to come and see me every day,” Felipe said, putting the boot down. “Please don’t say the bakery is on fire again.”

“Is like you do not even trust me,” Fernando said, ignoring Rob to hug his friend. “How are the wedding plans?”

“Long and boring,” Felipe said with a groan. “I do not care what it is like, as long as I am there and Raffaela is there and the world does not end in the middle of it.”

“Ah, but she is a princess,” Fernando teased. “So it must be magical.”

He sighed and leaned against the counter, only looking at Rob for long enough to turn his nose up at the healer. Felipe didn’t seem to notice.

“Leave all the magic making up to them,” he said.

“My best friend, marrying a princess, hey,” Fernando said with a small, hopeless sigh. “And where am I?”

“You never know,” Rob said. “Maybe you’ll find someone who likes burnt bread.”

Fernando shot Rob a look and Felipe shook his head at the pair of them. He wasn’t sure why Fernando was so against Rob but, in the small time the healer had been in the village, Fernando had decided he was not worth the time of day.

“Don’t you have some miracle to perform?” Fernando said, bitterly.

“You do not have to be so overdramatic, you know,” Felipe said, sitting back down with the boot between his legs.

“He’s right,” Rob said. “I should get going. Would you like me to send a message?”

Rob’s work required him to go to the castle, where he would spend the day healing whoever needed his help. People from all over the kingdom had heard of the healer who could actually _heal_ people, and many were beginning to make their way to the castle and the little village that sat in its shadow.

“No, no,” Felipe said, smiling when he looked up at Rob. “Just that I love her. And that her family should hurry up planning this wedding.”

Rob grinned and squeezed Felipe’s shoulder, giving Fernando the same unimpressed look the baker had given him before leaving the shop.

“I do not like him,” Fernando said, going to the window to watch Rob go up the street.

“I got that impression,” Felipe said, focusing on his work.

“I do not _trust_ him,” Fernando said. “He just shows up out of the blue and comes to the rescue? Does not seem right to me.”

Felipe just nodded along, not really listening. Fernando had given him this whole speech before and, really, the show maker was just waiting until his friend gave up on it.

“And why would a dragon have somebody like _him_ as a captive?” Fernando asked, speaking to himself more than to Felipe.

“Would rather he were a princess?” Felipe asked, not expecting an answer from his friend.

Fernando’s eyes narrowed as he watched Rob disappear into the distance, folding his arms before coming back to the counter.

“He is trying to get something,” Fernando said.

“Is this because you are not able to be best man at the wedding?” Felipe said. “Because have told you is not down to me to decide. Is only by royal appointment only and I am not royal yet. Rob is not my best man either. Do not know who is my best man.”

“Is not about _that_ ,” Fernando snapped, even though it seemed pretty clear to Felipe that that was exactly what Fernando was sulking about. “Is about him. Is no good. Am sure of it.”

“Maybe he is secretly a dragon and has snuck here with me in order to kidnap the princess,” Felipe said. “This seems like a more reasonable explanation than the one we have already given to you?”

“Do not be stupid,” Fernando said.

“Is what you are being,” Felipe pointed out. “Really, Fernando, is better if you just leave this. People are going to think you are mad.”

Fernando just folded his arms again, sticking out his bottom lip like a child. Felipe sighed and shook his head.

“Have work to do, you know,” he said. “Can stand around sulking if you want to, but I do not think it will be very interesting.”

“Have work to do too,” Fernando said. “But do not think I am ok with Rob, because I am not.”

“I do not think even an idiot could be under that impression.” Felipe said.

“Good.”

 

The thought of leaving his home behind excited Felipe a little. The house was his father and mother’s before him, the shop below it his father’s. Everything had been the same since the day he was born and, though he was sure he would be sad to say good bye to all the little quirks he had become used to over the years, he was also sure the sadness wouldn’t last long. This modest life wouldn’t last much longer.

Rob sat opposite him at dinner, though the healer still wouldn’t eat much. Even though he did criticise Fernando as many times a day as Fernando criticised him, Rob did enjoy the bread. The softness and the freshness made a change from anything he had eaten in his entire life and, if it weren’t for the night after his first evening here, Felipe was sure he would have gone through Fernando’s entire bakery by now.

Felipe watched him closely, watching him tear off small chunks of bread, pausing a moment before he put the bread between his lips, wetting them slightly each time.

“I cannot do this,” Felipe mumbled, pushing himself away from the table and disappearing into the other room.

“Felipe?” Rob followed him, confused and sometimes living with the healer really did have some down sides. “What’s wrong? Is it your head?”

“My head is fine,” Felipe insisted. “Is you.”

“What have I done?” Rob asked.

“Are confusing me!” Felipe cried, trying to hurry away but his legs still didn’t work how he wanted them to work and there wasn’t really anywhere to go.

“I’m just eating,” Rob said, confused.

“But you are not just eating,” Felipe cried, turning to face the healer. “You are confusing me. Being all…” Felipe waved a hand at Rob, trying to explain best what he was thinking but there were not words. “ _You_. And is confusing. Am confused.”

“You’re not the only one sunshine,” Rob laughed. “Do you want to calm down and try to explain?”

Felipe groaned loudly, throwing himself onto the bed as if that might help. The groan continued, muffled by his cushion, and he could _hear_ Rob laughing behind him but he chose to ignore him.

“Is you,” Felipe mumbled, rolling over and staring at the ceiling. “Is like… Love Raffaela. Love her more than anything in the world. Have never even _thought_ about another person like I think of her, you know?”

“You’ve told me this,” Rob said. He was pretty sure this wasn’t some kind of attack about love or something, but Rob couldn’t help but get a little defensive.

“Yes, and am telling you again,” Felipe cried. “Because I think of you like I think of her.”

Silence settled suddenly between the two of them. Felipe was still lying on the bed, his eyes closed now but he could still feel Rob watching him. Rob was always watching him, with those eyes that were supposed to be able to make men do whatever he wanted them to do, and Felipe was sure that wasn’t true now, but they still captured him.

When Felipe opened his eyes again, Rob was bright red and staring at him like a gormless fish. It would have been funny if Felipe were in a better mood. The shoe maker sat up slowly, shaking his head.

“Should not feel like this,” he mumbled. He had Raffaela. He _loved_ Raffaela. They were going to go and get married and he wasn’t going to go and do something stupid to ruin that.

Rob sat on the bed beside him, the gormless look still on his face and he made Felipe feel funny even looking like _that_.

“What?” Rob said.

“I think I love you,” Felipe said, quietly, not daring to look at Rob. Maybe they were right. Maybe there was something about his eyes… Felipe shuddered and shook his head. He was being stupid. This, _this_ was stupid. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Rob said, softly.

“Please, Rob, don’t,” Felipe said when he felt a hand slide around his waist. Rob froze, not sure what to do. Felipe needed comforting and he needed to do it. “Is not right. I love Raffaela.”

“Maybe there’s a chance…” Rob didn’t know where he was going with the thought and he stopped when Felipe moved away from him, tears in his eyes.

“I love Raffaela,” Felipe said again, and he was going to keep saying it, because he knew it was true and whatever it was he felt for Rob wasn’t. It couldn’t be.

Rob nodded, swallowing hard and standing too. “You’re right. You love her. You risked your life for her and now you’re going to marry her.”

Felipe nodded, biting down on his bottom lip hard. He still refused to look up at Rob, as if his mind might be clearer if he couldn’t see the healer’s face.

“Cannot do this, though,” he said, quietly. “Cannot marry her if I love another person too.”

“You can,” Rob said, holding onto Felipe’s shoulders. “Felipe, listen to me. You love her and she loves you and that’s all you need.”

“But you-.”

“I’ll be fine,” Rob said, honestly. “You love me, and you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. But if you don’t marry Raffaela, you’ll regret it. I know you will.”

Felipe finally looked up at Rob, a little surprised to find tears in the healer’s eyes. Rob smiled.

“It’s for the best,” he said, quietly.

 

Things were busy at the castle now. It seemed to Rob that, as soon as one patient left his care, another arrived. He’d suggested to the king that they move the operation somewhere else, thinking he wouldn’t want so many strangers in his castle, but the king refused. He wanted everyone in the kingdom and those that surrounded it to know that Rob was _his_ healer and that, apparently, meant working in the castle.

Injuries seemed minor today though. Small burns, cuts and bruises. There was one little boy who had managed to break his leg falling out of a tree but that was the most serious of the complaints Rob dealt with. The clock that ticked loudly through the room from one end of what had once been a ball room got ever closer to the hour, when Rob was allowed to finish work for the day. He knew the king would have him working through the night, if Felipe hadn’t managed to convince Raffaela to argue that he’d die of exhaustion before too long. He always felt a little guilty leaving, though, especially since leaving meant going back to Felipe’s and, after his confession, Rob didn’t exactly feel comfortable doing that.

It wasn’t that he was offended. Of course he wasn’t. He’d preyed to the Gods all his life for a friend – even during the dark years when he was convinced there was nothing out there but the dragon looking after him – and they had eventually answered to give him Felipe. It was even better that Felipe loved him because he… he didn’t really know if what he felt was love or something else, but he knew he liked and cared about Felipe, that was for sure. But he could not come between Felipe and Raffaela. He was not going to let himself ruin something else.

Rob washed his hands again as the clock ticked past the hour, officially off of duty. He smiled down to the sleeping boy, who didn’t really _need_ to stay in the extra day, but Rob thought it best anyway. It would definitely do him better than riding back to his village with a newly mended leg.

“Rob!”

Rob stopped, surprised to see Raffaela rushing down the stairs and pulling her friend behind her. Raffaela was grinning, and Rob assumed she had not just found out about Felipe’s confession.

Gabriela was blushing, trying to quieten her friend but Raffaela didn’t stop until she had grabbed Rob’s hand too.

“She is pregnant,” Raffaela hissed, excitedly.

“We are not telling anybody,” Gabriela said, quietly. “Not until he begins to show.”

“He?” Rob said. “You’re sure it’s a boy.”

“Well, no,” Gabriela said, blushing even more. “It is what Pastor is hoping for though. And me.”

“Well, congratulations,” Rob said, trying to pull his hand away from Raffaela’s so he could leave.

“You will be there to help when it is time for the baby to come,” Raffaela said. “To help.”

“Isn’t that somebody else’s job?” Rob asked.

“Yes, there are the elder women who will come and help but you are a healer,” Raffaela said. “Must come and help and make sure the baby has the best start.”

“Well then, yeah,” Rob said. “If you want me there, I’ll be there.”

“See?” Raffaela said to her friend as Rob made to leave again. “Knew he would say yes. Felipe is right about him. Is a good man.”

Before Rob could escape the castle again, the front hall fell silent. A small group of women who aided Rob rushed outside as the king made his way down the staircase his daughter had just hurried down.

“What is going on?” the king asked a member of staff.

“Lord Blakeley has sent his daughter,” the servant said. “She has been ill for weeks, he says, and the healers in his land say she will not get better. He says we are his last hope.”

Both the king and the servant turned to Rob but, before anybody could say anything, the group of women rushed back in, carrying a stretcher between them. Upon the stretcher lay a sickly thin woman with wispy, blonde hair. Rob watched in silence as she passed, noting how pale her skin looked, until he noticed the other side of her face and body. Pink and scale like. Dragon burns.


	10. Lord Blakely and his daughter

“What do you think?” the king asked. He stood beside Rob as the healer looked down at Lord Blakeley’s daughter. She had brought with her two female servants, who were sat opposite Rob and the king and waiting to help the healer.

Rob couldn’t take his eyes off of the burns. He knew they weren’t the problem, as healed as they could naturally be and causing the woman no pain. But he still couldn’t stop staring at them.

“Does she have a name?” Rob asked, quietly.

“Lucy,” one of the servants said.

“She isn’t Lord Blakeley’s real daughter,” the king said. “Not by blood, but he’s cared for her since she were a child.”

Rob gulped and nodded. “What’s wrong with her?”

“We don’t know,” one of the servants said. “She got a fever about a month ago and has been getting worse ever since. Difficulty breathing. And then, a few weeks ago, she went to sleep and she will not wake up.”

Rob nodded, pulling his eyes away from Lucy’s burnt face to try and locate where the problem might be. He brushed a hand through Lucy’s hair, but she didn’t react at all.

“I need skin to skin contact,” he murmured, still trying to come up with the answer to the question. It was likely something to do with her chest or throat, he thought. The servants began to undress Lucy as the king turned away.

“I trust I can leave this to you?” he said.

“Have someone set up a room for her,” Rob said. “She’ll need somewhere to sleep.”

The servants shared confused looks. Why was this healer giving orders to the _king_? But Raffaela’s father had become used to Rob’s peculiar attitude to authority and did as he was told.

Lucy’s burns disappeared under her clothes, the entire left side of her body affected.

“You can help her, can’t you?” one of the servants said.

Rob nodded, swallowing hard and placing a shaking hand on Lucy’s chest. His fingers traced the line where her scars touched the unscarred skin, up to her throat, working his magic to take the illness away.

“How did she get these?” Rob asked, quietly, brushing his other hand over Lucy’s scarred arm.

“She got them when she was a child,” the servant explained. “There’s nothing that can be done for them. Lord Blakely brought every healer in the land to heal them when he first adopted her, but there was nothing that could be done.”

Rob nodded, bringing his hands back down to below Lucy’s ribs.

“But how did she get them?” he asked again.

“Dragon attack,” the servant said, quietly. “When she was a child. She was lucky to get out of it alive.”

Rob gulped again.

_Half the village was gone. Dust and ash. And I got there and they were pulling this girl from the rubble of the orphanage._

“Are you… are you ok, sir?” one of the servants asked.

Rob nodded, quickly, but his hands had gone still. He looked down at Lucy’s face again, watching her lips quiver as she breathed in and out.

“I’m fine,” Rob said. “I just… could you both go and make sure a room has been made for her?”

“Are you sure?” the servant asked.

Rob nodded, quickly, unable to take his eyes off of Lucy. It was definitely her. The girl from the orphanage. And this was all his fault. And now he needed to fix it.

 

Rob was late and, really, Felipe wasn’t actually allowed to just wonder into the castle yet, but there didn’t seem to be anybody guarding the front entrance of the castle when Felipe arrived, which was a little worrying.

“Hello?” Felipe called, stumbling into an empty entrance hall. He was sure there should be better security than this. _Anybody_ could wonder in here and hurt Raffaela. Not that he thought the princess couldn’t defend herself. He knew that wasn’t true. “Is there anybody here?”

There was no reply. Felipe spun around in a circle, as if he might spot someone who had been hiding. There was definitely something wrong here.

“Hello!”

The shoe maker let out a sigh of relief when a small group of servants scurried down the stairs.

“Where is everybody?” Felipe asked.

“Princess Raffaela has gone with Lady Maldonado back to her manor, sir,” one of the servants said. “Everybody is preparing to greet Lord Blakely. He should be arriving any moment now.”

“There is no security,” Felipe pointed out.

“It is a very busy day sir,” the servant said. “You must excuse us, sir. Sorry.”

They hurried away, taking the things they were carrying into another room. Felipe frowned and considered following them into the room, but decided against it. If Raffaela wasn’t here, the security wasn’t too much trouble. Now, all he had to do was find out where Rob had disappeared off to.

Felipe had only a couple of times come to visit Rob whilst he was working, wanting to make sure the healer was settling in ok when he had first arrived and wasn’t still panicking about causing damage to anyone. When it was clear Rob was fine, Felipe left him to it, but he still knew where he _should_ have been able to find his friend.

The hall that had been taken over by the ward was empty, Felipe thought when he first stuck his head through the door, only a few patients sleeping in the beds closest to the door, but then he spotted Rob at the far end of the hall, standing over a bed. Felipe glanced up at the clock to make sure he had gotten the right time, but Rob should definitely have been back by now. Closing the door gently behind him, Felipe came over, not wanting to disturb Rob. No matter how quiet he was though, the healer still heard him coming.

“Do you remember the girl I was telling you about?”

Felipe jumped. Rob hadn’t even turned around to speak and, at first, the shoe maker wasn’t sure if his friend was talking to him or not, but he got no reply from the patient in the bed, so Felipe assumed it was him.

“Which girl?” Felipe asked.

“When I went back,” Rob said, quietly. He still didn’t turn around, and Felipe came a little closer. “When I went back, there was a girl. They were pulling her from the rubble. I couldn’t remember her name before but now I do. It was Lucy.”

He remembered the girl. He remembered her smiling at him from across the big hall where they sat and ate breakfast. He remembered her watching whilst she was playing skipping and the other kids called him a witch. He remembered her going to try to get help. And he remembered her name.

Felipe came closer, peering around Rob to the woman on the bed. This, he guessed, was Lucy. The burn scars were immediately noticeable, a similar colour to the slayers, with the same scale like texture, only a little darker in colour as the burns were more severe. They ran up her entire body, making her entire face look grotesque and half rotten.

“They want you to heal them?” Felipe asked, quietly, looking up at Rob. The poor man looked like he was about to fall apart and Felipe mentally scolded himself again for letting slip how he felt about Rob. If he kept that a secret he would have been able to comfort the healer now without his friend finding it strange or uncomfortable. Now, he thought it was probably better to leave it.

Rob shook his head. “She has breathing problems,” he said, quietly. “It will take a couple of days to fix. Short bursts of magic, to her chest and throat. It should work.”

She wouldn’t wake up until the process was complete and Rob thought that was probably a good thing. It would give him time to work on her scars.

“You are going to heal them?” Felipe asked. He liked to think he knew the healer fairly well by now, and what he was thinking.

“They’ve tried,” Rob said. “They tried every healer they could find but they couldn’t make them any better.”

“But they did not try you,” Felipe pointed out. “You are magic Rob. They would not be coming from so far away if you were not special.”

Rob nodded. He knew that. He knew he could probably fix the scars too, or at least make them better. But he didn’t want to find out he couldn’t do it. He would rather never know that find out he couldn’t do this.

“Is ok,” Felipe said.

“She’s been like this for twenty years,” Rob said, quietly. “All the time it was looking after me and keeping me safe, she’s been suffering and living with this.”

“You are not telling me you were not suffering,” Felipe said. “And there is nothing you could have done to change what happened. Said yourself, you have no control over the dragon. You did not do this. It did.”

Rob nodded again, gulping back tears. He really shouldn’t have been getting this over emotional about this, he knew that, but he just couldn’t help it.

Felipe looked up at him, still a little scared of the awkwardness he had created, but he stood on his toes and hugged Rob anyway. The shoe maker was relieved when Rob hugged him back, and Felipe patted his back gently.

“Will be ok,” Felipe said, quietly. “You are ok here.”

 

It was almost midnight by the time Lord Blakely arrived. The entire castle had been rushing around to try and make sure everything was as perfect as possible for the lord. Felipe wasn’t entirely sure why this man was more special than any of the other lords who frequently visited the castle, but he didn’t comment on it. He’d left Rob alone to work on Lucy, not wanting to disturb the healer any more than he already had, and was still waiting in the entrance hall, doing his best to not fall asleep, when the lord arrived.

A few dozen servants lined up in the hall as Raffaela, her father, Gabriela, and more servants went outside to greet Lord Blakely. Felipe stood, awkwardly, at the side of the hall, making everything look a mess, as he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with himself.

“Is Pastor not coming?” Raffaela asked, quietly, watching the carriage pull to a stop outside the castle.

Gabriela shook her head. “Blakely is one of the lords he would have had you seduce and send to his death, if Pastor was given half the chance,” she said, quietly. She pretended not to pay attention to her husbands’ political games but some things you just couldn’t help noticing.

They both smiled warmly as Lord Blakely got out of the carriage. The Lord bowed to the three of them and the two women curtseyed back.

“Where is my daughter?” Lord Blakely asked once all the formalities were finished.

“The healer is still with her,” the king said. “He has said it will take a few days for the damage to be undone entirely.”

“I want to see her,” Lord Blakely said, going into the castle whilst the others followed him in quickly.

“He’s seems a little old for me,” Raffaela whispered to Gabriela as they rushed to follow the lord inside.

“That’s what I said,” Gabriela said. “Pastor says he is a dirty old pervert, so he will not really mind.”

“The healer works a special way,” the king said, rushing to keep up with Lord Blakely as the lord ignored the bowing servants as he passed them. “He has asked to be left alone with her.”

Felipe watched the party move across the hall, Lord Blakely having no idea where he was supposed to be going but demanding that he could see his daughter.

“Lord Blakely,” the king said. “The healer is working.”

“I will go in and see him,” Felipe offered, stepping forward.

The visiting lord stopped and looked the shoe maker up and down, frowning. Felipe was still in his work clothes and clearly out of place in the castle. The shoe maker bowed quickly, doing his best to keep to formalities. He wasn’t a prince just yet, after all.

“And who, exactly, are you?” the lord asked.

“This is Felipe Massa,” the king said, standing behind his future son in law and presenting him proudly. “Raffaela’s fiancé and the dragon slayer.”

“Dragon slayer?” the lord said before Felipe could introduce himself. “ _He_ has killed a dragon.”

“The dragon on the other side of the forest,” the king said, speaking for Felipe and letting the shoe maker shrink away a little. “The rainbow dragon.”

“The…” the lord looked between Felipe and the king as if they had both gone mad. “ _He_ has killed the _rainbow_ dragon.”

The king nodded, beaming, whilst Felipe gave the lord a sheepish smile.

“No,” the lord said. “The rainbow dragon cannot be killed.”

“Well he did it,” Raffaela said, quickly, jumping to her future husband’s side. “And he brought back the dragon’s captive.”

The princess glared at Lord Blakely, daring the visitor to challenge her. Felipe felt like he should probably have been defending himself, but he’d suddenly lost his voice. It felt as if the lord’s eyes were piercing into him, but it wasn’t the same kind of intense look Rob had given him before. He didn’t like it.

Before the lord could speak again, the door to the hall Rob had been working in and the healer came out, stopping abruptly when he noticed there were so many people in the entrance hall.

“Here he is,” the king said after a couple of moments’ silence. He stepped away from the small party and brought Rob into the mix. “The healer, Rob Smedley.”

Lord Blakely stepped back when he spotted Rob, his face turning white as a sheet in an instant. Rob looked up at the lord, but froze when he saw the man he was looking at, and the look on his face.

“Dragon,” Lord Blakely said, quietly.

“What?” the king said, confused.

“Dragon,” Lord Blakely said again, louder this time. He pointed to Rob, who automatically stepped back, Felipe darting in front of him. “That man is the dragon that destroyed Lucy’s home.”

“Is not the dragon,” Felipe said, finding his voice again. “The dragon was keeping him a captive. I killed the dragon. Saw it turn to dust with his own eyes.”

“He _is_ the dragon,” Lord Blakely said. “And you are a liar.”

“Think the lord is maybe not well,” Felipe said, turning to Raffaela and her father. He was a little relieved to see neither of them really seemed to believe the lord. The king looked between Rob and Lord Blakely, totally confused, whilst Raffaela just watched the lord as if he were mad. “Maybe he would like a lie down.”

“Your parents were witches, and _you are a dragon_ ,” Lord Blakely said, snatching a sword from one of the king’s men and plunging it into Rob’s chest.

Gasps filled the room, Raffaela and Gabriella clasping their hands to their mouths to try to hide their surprise. But no blood trickled away from the hole in the healer’s shirt, only the dust of the now destroyed blade.

Lord Blakely threw the hilt of the sword away.

“You see?” he said. “You cannot even draw blood. He is a dragon. Beat him and he will transform into the dragon. The one this _peasant_ is supposed to have killed.”

Rob took a couple of steps back. He couldn’t see anybody’s face and he didn’t want to. He just needed to get away from here.

“Did kill the dragon,” Felipe said. “Think you are mad.”

“Felipe,” Raffaela gasped. He couldn’t address a lord like that, no matter how mad the lord in question was.

“Maybe it would be better if you go and have a lie down, Lord Blakely?” the king said.

Rob shook his head and hurried away from the discussion, Lord Blakely yelling after him as he headed away from the castle.

 

Felipe rushed home as soon as he was certain Raffaela and her father didn’t believe what Lord Blakely was saying. Rob was already piling clothes into an old flour sack.

“What are you doing?” Felipe cried, snatching the sack away from the healer.

“I need to go, Felipe,” Rob said. He’d been crying, Felipe could tell, and, judging by the state of his hair, he’d been dragging his fingers through his hair a lot. He lifted his hand again and Felipe dropped the sack of possessions to take hold of it. “Felipe, I need to _go_ ,” Rob said again. “He knows what I am. He’s going to make the dragon come.”

“Is not,” Felipe said. “Have managed to convince Raffaela and her father Lord Blakely is mad. Probably _is_ mad. Do not just show up at a castle and stab somebody you have not seen for twenty years, whether you think they are a dragon or not.”

Rob shook his head. He needed to leave. If one person had recognised him, anybody could. He needed to leave before the dragon came and ruined everything.

“It’s no use Felipe,” Rob mumbled.

“Is a use,” Felipe said. “You are staying here. Cannot let him scare you away. He is not going to touch you again, I promise.”

“I could _feel_ it Felipe,” Rob said. “I could _hear_ it. If I’d stayed there with him a moment later, the dragon would have come. And then what. You’d be dead. Raffaela. Her father. Gabriela. All dead. And I would be able to do nothing for it. I cannot let that happen, Felipe. Let me leave.”

“No,” Felipe snapped, clinging onto Rob’s arm when the healer made to leave the room. “You are not going anywhere. Think the king has banished Lord Blakely from the castle until his daughter is well again. You will not have to see him.”

“But what if someone else, Felipe-.”

“Rob, listen to me,” Felipe said, holding the healer’s face in his hands and pulling him down so they were nose to nose. “Nobody is going to hurt you. Nobody is going to make the dragon come. You are clever. You hear it and if it wants to come you leave like you did today. But it will not happen again. I promise you.”


	11. Lucy wakes up

They shouldn’t have had to meet like this now, Felipe thought as he waited under the cover of darkness in the same place he had been meeting Raffaela for years. The little pond was peaceful, the only thing to be heard the insects that came out when their predators did not, and, before, Felipe had liked it. Now it was annoying. He should be married to Raffaela by now. He shouldn’t have to wait to meet her in secret anymore. He had done what had been asked for him – sort of – and he didn’t see why things were taking so long.

He jumped up when he heard voices, still a little scared of getting caught by guards or someone else, and was relieved when Raffaela and Gabriela came into view. No matter how many times Raffaela told him not to, he kept to the formalities, kissing Raffaela’s hand as Gabriela disappeared back to the castle. They both sat on the blanket Felipe had brought with him, looking out over the pond. Raffaela rested her head on Felipe’s shoulder and sighed.

“I know,” Felipe said, quietly. “How much longer, do you think?”

Raffaela shook her head, sitting up. “Weeks.”

Felipe lay back on the blanket, huffing a little. It had to be done, he knew. Everything had to be perfect and Felipe wouldn’t want Raffaela to remember her special day any other way. But couldn’t it take them a bit less time to make everything perfect?

Raffaela lay down beside him, looking up at the stars that were beginning to shine above them.

“Think my father is dragging his heels,” she said, quietly.

“Why would he do that?” Felipe asked. This is the first time he’d heard of any conspiracy theory.

“He does not want us to be together,” Raffaela said. “Would rather I marry a prince or a lord. I think he thinks if he drags this preparation on for long enough I will find someone else I like more and marry him instead.”

Felipe frowned, sitting up and looking down at his fiancé. Raffaela wouldn’t do that, he knew, but what if some fancy prince _did_ come along and excite Raffaela more than he did...

The princess just laughed, reaching up and pulling Felipe down to lie back with her.

“Do not worry,” she said. “He cannot put it off much longer. We will be married soon. I promise.”

 

“Guess what genius idea Pastor has come up with this time.”

“What?”

“If it is a boy, he wants to call it Pastor Junior.”

“Oh dear.”

“Hmmm, this is what I said. Said we cannot call him Pastor Junior, but he would not listen. I hope for its sake it is a girl, or maybe I will be able to convince Pastor between now and when it is born. What do you think?”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to convince him.”

Lucy frowned, unable to figure out who the voices were. They definitely didn’t belong to the servants who usually looked after her. It would be easier to identify them if she were able to open her eyes, but she hadn’t been able to do that in such a long time. It came with the pain in her chest every time she took a- the pain in her chest was missing. That was… also very odd.

Not sure what to expect, Lucy tried to open her eyes and was very surprised when light fluttered through her eye lashes and she found herself looking up at a ceiling that was not her own.

Someone was sitting on the end of the bed and they jumped up quickly, the owners of both voices coming up as Lucy carefully pushed herself up, all the while surprised at how well her body was moving. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d sat up like this and she couldn’t figure out why she was sitting up now.

“Well, Rob does say she will wake up today,” one of the women said to her friend.

“Where… am I?” Lucy asked, looking around.

“You’re at the castle,” the second woman said. “You were brought here very sick but our healer made you healthy again.”

“But…” Lucy looked around again. This wasn’t right. They’d tried every healer they could find and none of them had worked. They’d said she would never be well again. “Who are you?”

The second woman laughed and sat beside Lucy on the bed. “I am Princess Raffaela, and this is my friend, Lady Maldonado.”

“Gabriela,” Lady Maldonado said. “We do not need to deal with formalities whilst we are here. Unless you are more comfortable that way. And you are?”

“Miss Blakely,” Lucy said, quietly, still a little in awe at her noble guests. She’d met nobles before, of course, but never like this. And then she had only been ushered in quickly, curtseyed and left. “Miss Lucy Blakely.”

“ _Miss_ ,” Gabriela said. “How can a beautiful little thing like you still not be married?”

Lucy felt herself blush. “It’s not very often I am called beautiful, my lady,” Lucy said, quietly. “With a face like this.”

“Nonsense,” Gabriela said. “I can think of at least twenty people who love to kiss a face as pretty as yours.”

“Do you include yourself in that?” Raffaela asked.

“Perhaps,” Gabriela said, with a shrug.

“You don’t have to say things like that,” Lucy said, smiling weakly. “I know what I am.”

She looked down at her hands so she didn’t have to look at the sympathy on the two women’s face, only to find her hands were… not hers. Or one was her hand, but the other…

“Is something wrong?” Raffaela asked.

“What happened?” Lucy said.

“What’s the matter?” Raffaela asked, clearly concerned.

“What… do you have a mirror?” Lucy asked. Her hand was normal. Her entire arm was normal. This had to be a dream of some kind. Waking up in the presence of a princess should have told her that much, but the scars being gone were too much to believe to be true.

Gabriela handed her a mirror and Lucy looked at her face.

Her fingers brushed against the smooth, pale skin. It felt alien, she’d become so use to the ugly bumps of her burns.

“Who did this?” she whispered, unable to take her eyes off herself. This couldn’t be true. This couldn’t really be happening.

“The healer,” Raffaela said, a little confused.

“No,” Lucy said, shaking her head and putting the mirror down. It had to be some trick. “No, they have tried everything they can do but the scars wouldn’t go. Who. Did. This?”

“Rob is different,” Raffaela said. “He healed you. Would you like me to send someone to get him? To explain? He thought you would like it, I’m sure.”

Lucy nodded. “Go and get him.”

She picked up the mirror again as Gabriela hurried out of the room and, this time, she was unable to take her eyes off of her own reflection.

“Are you alright?” Raffaela asked, uncertainly.

Lucy nodded quickly, tears beginning to fill her eyes.

 

“What is it?” Rob asked, doing his best to keep up with Gabriela. “Is it the baby?”

“If it were the baby, you would not need to come with me, would you?” Gabriela said, lifting up the bottom of her dress so she could walk quicker. “Could do it wherever I am. Come on.”

Gabriela led Rob up to the room that had been prepared for Lucy, knocking quickly before entering.

“Here he is,” she said, presenting the healer to Lucy and Raffaela.

Lucy was still looking at herself in the mirror and it took a couple of moments for her to bring herself to look away. She’d never been particularly vain, but seeing herself look _normal_ , look like a Lord’s daughter should look… She didn’t want to look away in case, when she looked back, she was back to her usual self. The horrifying monster that would never be loved, never be accepted…

“Hello,” Rob said, nervously, when Lucy did eventually look at him. He wasn’t sure if she would remember, like Lord Blakely had. She had only been a child when the dragon had attacked for the first time, like Rob, and his own memory from before then was hazy at best.

But there was no recognition in Lucy’s eye when she turned to him. She took a breath to say something, then found she didn’t have the right words and sighed instead.

“I’m Rob,” Rob said, fairly sure that Lucy didn’t know who, or what, he was. “Rob Smedley. I’m a healer.”

“You did this,” Lucy said, touching her face again.

Rob nodded, his mouth suddenly very dry. “I… I thought you might like it,” he said. “I’m sorry if you don’t. And I’m sorry it’s not perfect but I just had to do the best I could.”

“I love it,” Lucy said, quietly.

“You… you like it,” Rob said. He didn’t know why he was so surprised. He wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t thought Lucy wouldn’t like it. But the look on her face made him beam and blush bright red. She liked it.

Lucy nodded. “What has my father done, to repay you?” she asked.

Gabriela snorted. “Accuses him of being a dragon and tries to kill him,” she said.

“What?”

“Gaby,” Raffaela hissed, noticing how much further red Rob blushed.

“He did what?” Lucy asked again.

“We think your father has a mind sickness,” Rob said. “It’s something I can’t cure. But the king sent him away. I’m sorry.”

“He tried to _kill_ you,” Lucy said, bewildered.

“He is not well,” Rob said again.

“Clearly,” Lucy said, looking Rob up and down before nodding again, convinced the man in front of her was not one of the beasts that plagued her dreams.

Raffaela and Gabriela shared knowing looks. The princess took her friends hand and pulled her towards the door.

“We have to go and discuss something with Lord Maldonado,” she said, in way of an explanation. “I trust we can leave you alone.”

They didn’t wait for an answer before leaving, giggling to themselves as they hurried away from the room. Rob still hadn’t taken a seat, not sure what to do with himself now. Lucy was still watching him and her gaze made him squirm a little, but he wasn’t uncomfortable.

“You’re feeling alright?” Rob asked. Maybe it would be best to go through his usual check up. It would definitely calm him a little.

Lucy nodded, putting the mirror in her hands down as Rob came closer.

“Your chest and throat- your breathing’s fine?” Rob asked.

“How do you do it?” Lucy asked.

“Do what?” Rob asked.

“How did you fix me?” Lucy asked.

“Well, with breathing it’s normally something to do with your chest or your throat,” Rob tried to explain. “So I just kind of touch them. Rub them. My hands are… well, they’re magic I guess. And that seems to do the trick most of the time.”

“No,” Lucy said, realising Rob didn’t understand the question. “How did you fix my burns?”

“Oh,” Rob said. “Well, it was really just the same thing. Just on the burns instead.”

Lucy nodded. She didn’t really believe any of this was happening. It was too good to be true and there was no way there could be such a thing as a healer who had magic hands. It was just too unbelievable. This was all a dream. But it was a pleasant dream, and she wanted it to continue.

“I’m sorry about my father,” Lucy said, quietly. She’d taken her eyes off of Rob now and was looking down at her hands again, smiling at the way they matched one another again.

“It’s fine,” Rob said. “He thought he was doing the right thing. He cannot help that he’s ill any more than you could.”

“Still,” Lucy said. “He became obsessed with killing the dragon that hurt me for so long, but there was nothing he could do about it. I think he blames himself. He isn’t even my real father, you know, but he still holds himself responsible.”

Rob gulped, holding his hands behind his back and trying to hide his fidgeting as best he could when Lucy looked up at him again.

“The dragon’s gone now though,” Rob said. “Dead.”

“What? When?”

“Not… a few weeks ago,” Rob said, trying to remember how long he had been working in the castle.

“It can’t be,” Lucy said. “It can’t be killed.”

“I saw it happen,” Rob said, going through the story he had told a couple of dozen times since he left the cave on the other side of the forest to start this new life. “It had me captive but then Felipe, Princess Raffaela’s fiancé, came and killed it.”

“It’s gone,” Lucy said. “It had _you_ captive.”

Rob nodded. He couldn’t tell if Lucy believed the story or not, but there were enough people who did believe it to help to encourage her to believe it.

“It must have been awful,” Lucy said.

“Yeah, well,” Rob scratched the back of his neck, his cheeks going bright red again and making Lucy’s smile widen. “Could’ve been worse. Here now, so it don’t really matter.”

“I suppose not,” Lucy said, thoughtfully. “And it’s a very good job you are here. You saved my life, and made me beautiful again. It deserves some kind of reward.”

“You were beautiful before,” Rob said.

“You don’t have to say that,” Lucy said. “I saw what I was like every day of my life. Thank you, but I know.”

“No,” Rob said. “You really were… You don’t have to be perfect to be pretty.”

“Then why did you do this?” Lucy asked, pointing to her face again.

Rob didn’t really know how to answer the question. He took a step away from the wall, bringing his hands around to his front and wringing them together, trying to find an answer that didn’t consist of _it was my bloody fault and I wanted to make things better_.

“The servants,” he lied. “They say you didn’t like them.”

“Oh,” Lucy said. Well, she guessed that made sense. It was no secret that she didn’t like the marks the dragon had left on her. How could anybody like something like that? How could anybody _want_ to look like _that_?

“You’re… are you ok?” Rob asked. He didn’t understand. She said she liked what he’d done, but why wasn’t she _happy_? She wasn’t even smiling anymore. He’d known when he came here that he might not really understand… people. But he really didn’t understand this at all.

“I’ve never been better,” Lucy said, huffing a laugh a little. Maybe she could let herself believe this.


	12. The dragon's return

It had been almost a month since Lucy had woken up. Rob couldn’t say quite why he was so reluctant to say she was well enough to go home, besides meaning he might possibly run into her father again if the lord came to collect her, but she seemed happy enough in his company. A little too happy, Raffaela and Gabriela thought, as they watched the pair take walks in the garden, Lucy waving her hands about as she explained something and Rob giggling at her like a little school girl. The giggles soon stopped when Lucy stood up on her toes and pressed a kiss to Rob’s lips.

“What did I say?” Gabriela asked, watching with her friend from a distance. She smiled, knowingly, as Rob kissed Lucy back.

 

They came in the night.

Armed with as many men as he could gather on such short notice, Lord Blakely marched to the village that lay in asleep at the foot of the castle.

Fernando Alonso was not asleep. Fernando was on a walk. It wouldn’t be long until his best friend was married to the love of his life, and he couldn’t help the pang of jealousy at that. _He_ was the one with the good looks and the winning smile. _He_ had been the one all the girls had fancied when they were kids. Fernando was pretty sure he could walk into any bar in the kingdom and find a pretty girl who would agree to run away and marry him, but he didn’t want that.

Fernando kicked at the ground hopelessly. He didn’t know what wondering around at this time of night was going to achieve. He had to be up early in the morning to get the first batches of bread ready and he should really head back and go to sleep, but he was too stubborn to give in.

Everything had been fine before Felipe had gone to kill the dragon. Yeah, he hadn’t had a girlfriend or a special someone of any kind back then, either. But at least he wasn’t the only one. And at least his best friend hadn’t been stolen by some sneaky healer.

No, Fernando still did not trust Rob. There was something about the healer Fernando didn’t like. It was his eyes, Fernando decided, but that sounded stupid. It was as if… as if they were looking into him. As if they could read his mind. Fernando didn’t like them. Fernando didn’t like him.

He was on the outskirts of the village and planning to turn back and call it a night when he heard the sound of hooves and over the hill came Lord Blakely and his men. Fernando froze, knowing they had spotted him and his little lantern. If this was an attack on the castle, there was no way he could warn them now.

Lord Blakely stopped his horse beside Fernando and looked down at the baker. Fernando didn’t know what to say or do, and stayed frozen whilst he waited for the horsemen to make up their minds what they wanted to do with him.

“We are looking for the healer, peasant,” Lord Blakely said, eventually, deciding it would be better to ask a local peasant were to find him instead of wondering around and losing their element of surprise. “Rob Smedley.”

Fernando glared at the ground. Of course. Smedley. It was as if he couldn’t go anywhere without the healer.

“Will be working in the castle in the morning,” Fernando said, bitterly.

“We seek him, not his work,” Lord Blakely said. “Show us where we might find him now, and you will be rewarded greatly, peasant.”

“What do you want him _for_?” Fernando asked, suspiciously.

“That is none of your concern, peasant,” the lord said. “Do you know where we can find him or not?”

Fernando looked over the group of men, not sure what to make of the possible attack. What could all these people need with the healer, unless they were going to war somewhere and needed some help with that?

It didn’t matter to Fernando. He nodded and told the lord to follow him before spinning around and heading back to the village.

 

The next morning when Felipe woke there was no sign of Rob. The shoe maker sighed and smiled to himself as he made himself a light breakfast. He could hardly keep away from the castle anymore, always going there to visit Lucy. Felipe was happy for him, he really was, but he couldn’t help the pang of jealousy. Rob wasn’t _his_ , he knew that, but, in some ways, he was. Felipe didn’t know if he could just let Lucy have him.

Before Felipe could even finish his breakfast, there was someone banging on the front door. The shoe maker groaned and pushed himself away from the table. It was not late, and who could be this desperate for shoes anyway? There was really only one way to find out, and Felipe made his way through to the shop front, surprised to find it was Fernando knocking on his door with a panic stricken face.

“If there is another fire, Fernando,” Felipe began, but Fernando shook his head.

“They have Rob,” his friend said. “Am sorry. Did not know what they want, just said they wanted Rob and now they are humiliating him and are saying they are waiting for you.”

“ _Who_ has him, Fernando?” Felipe said, rushing to get his coat before following his friend through the oddly quiet streets of the village.

“I do not know who they are,” Fernando said, rushing to the castle. “There were men, on horses. I didn’t know who they were but they asked where they could find Rob.”

It was Lord Blakely. It had to be Lord Blakely. Felipe’s mind was racing almost as fast as his feet were as he followed Fernando up to the castle, where a crowd had gathered. It seemed like everyone in the village had managed to hear about this before Felipe, he thought as they pushed their way to the front of the crowd. He could hear Lord Blakely over the mumbling and murmuring in the crowd, but Felipe couldn’t quite make out what he was saying. There was a cry of pain and then a huge gasp and Felipe pushed with renewed enthusiasm to the front of the crowd.

“Felipe!” Raffaela cried, rushing over to her fiancé as soon as she spotted him. She wrapped her arms around him, smothering him, before he could see what was really going on.

“Oh look, the _dragon slayer_ has arrived,” Lord Blakely said as Felipe pulled away from Raffaela. “Look, dragon. Look who’s come to save you.”

Rob knelt on the floor at the lord’s feet, his eyes screwed shut in concentration and his breathing erratic. It didn’t look like he’d been hurt, as far as Felipe could tell. Of course he hadn’t been hurt. He wouldn’t be here if he had.

“Lord Blakely, sir, this is ridiculous,” Felipe said. He couldn’t understand why the lord was being allowed to get away with this, until he saw the presence of a large mass of men wearing uniforms he didn’t recognise. They were outnumbered, for now. “Rob is not a dragon. The dragon is dead and you are sick. Leave him be.”

“Felipe make them leave,” Rob whispered through gritted teeth. “He’s going to make it come. Make sure they’re not here when it comes.”

“Rob, listen to me,” Felipe said, cupping Rob’s face and making the healer open his eyes. “I am not going to let him hurt you, ok. Is not going to hurt you.” He dropped his voice down to a whisper, pressing his forehead against Rob’s. “Is no reason for it to come. I am here. I am not going to let him hurt you.”

“Father!”

Felipe spun around at the scream, surprised to find Lucy and Gabriela rushing down the castle steps. Lucy ran over, almost pushing Felipe out of the way so she could take his positions beside Rob, but Rob just shook his head.

“You need to go, Lucy,” he whispered. “Please, I’ll explain later. But you need to go.”

Lucy pressed a brief kiss to Rob’s lips and stood. “Father you have to let him go,” she said. “Look at me. _Look_ at me father. Look at what he’s done.”

“This… this monster is the reason you had your scars in the first place,” Lord Blakely said, kicking Rob forward with the heel of his foot. “Show them, dragon. Show them what you are.”

“Father, you’re not well,” Lucy tried, but Lord Blakely ignored here, kicking Rob forward again. This time, the healer didn’t stand.

“Rob,” Felipe said, crouching down beside him. “Listen to me. Is going to be ok.”

“Felipe, get them to leave or they’re going to be hurt,” Rob said, his teeth still gritted. He’d never been able to keep the dragon away before, no matter how hard he had tried, and he knew he wasn’t going to be able to keep it away now. “Please.”

“Is going to be o-.”

Felipe was silenced by a scream that turned into the ear piercing shriek Felipe knew signalled the dragon’s arrival, and the entire crowd went silent. Some looked to the sky, in search for the dragon they were expecting to arrive. Some decided it was probably better to hear about this in the pub later, not wanting to become a dragon’s next victim.

“Felipe?” Raffaela said, trying to pull her fiancé away from the writhing figure on the ground, Rob’s face already ghoulish and his body changing.

“Go inside,” Felipe said, turning to her. Maybe there was still a chance he would be able to calm Rob down, convince the dragon it was not needed, but he didn’t want Raffaela here in case that didn’t go to plan. “Take Gabriela and Lucy and go inside.”

There was another shriek and a roar, and now the crowd of people that had formed decided, yes, it was probably a better idea to hear about all this in the pub in the evening, and ran as a screaming mass away from the castle, seeking cover.

Lord Blakely’s men scrambled and reformed, tossing ropes to one another as Rob’s body split into the dragon’s. The attempted capture was no use, the dragon’s tail sweeping Lucy, Gabriela, and half Lord Blakely’s men off of their feet and, when Felipe ran to help the women up, the lord took hold of his arm, gripping him tightly and pulling him to a stop.

“You made this mess,” he said. “You brought this monster here. You will face it.”

The ropes that attempted to keep the dragon in place slipped away from its body as it grew. The last of the crowd disappeared as a burst of flames, all the colours in the rainbow, was shot into the air. The ground beneath them shook as the dragon, once fully formed, took off into an orange and green night sky.

It felt as if the entire world had gone silent as everyone watched the dragon leave. Lord Blakely’s grip on Felipe’s arm didn’t loosen and, as soon as he snapped out of his awe-struck state, he twisted the shoe maker’s arm around, snapping Felipe out of his frozen state too.

“Where is the king?” Lord Blakely demanded, turning to where his daughter and Raffaela were trying to help Gabriela off of the floor. “Where is my apology?”

“Apology?” Felipe cried, trying to tug himself out of the lord’s grip. “You want an apology for this?”

“Was I not right about the monster?” Lord Blakely said, addressing the king who was now hurrying towards them.

“He is not a monster,” Felipe snapped. “ _You_ are the monster. You do not understand what it is like. He is a good person and everything was fine until you show up and ruin everything.”

“A good person?” Lord Blakely laughed. “You said I had a mind sickness but I think it’s clear who is ill here.”

Gabriela yelped in pain as Lucy and Raffaela helped her stand, doubling over and clutching her stomach.

“Get Pastor,” Gabriela moaned, trying to find a way to sooth the pain in her stomach. “Get Pastor and get help. Please get help.”

“What’s wrong?” Lucy asked, confused. She’d taken just as much of a knock as Gabriela, but she just felt sore from where she’d hit the floor.

“The baby,” Raffaela said. “Lucy, go and get Pastor.”

“You see what you have done?” Lord Blakely said to Felipe, before turning to the king. “What would you like me to do with him?”


	13. Consequences

Gabriela sat in bed, her sheets pulled up to her chin and tears rolling down her face. Pastor hadn’t wanted to let Raffaela in, but the princess had insisted, and he couldn’t really say no. He watched as Raffaela walked around the bed, but his wife’s eyes stayed still, glazed over and staring directly in front of her. Raffaela took a seat beside Gabriela, tucking her feet beneath her and wrapping her arms around her friend. The only reaction she got from Gabriela was a shaky breath.

“I’m sorry,” Raffaela whispered.

Sorry wasn’t going to be any good anymore, and she knew it, but she didn’t feel like there was anything else left to say.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Gabriela croaked, still not looking at her friend. “I believed him too.”

They were both idiots. Raffaela had known when Felipe had come back that this was too good to be true. She’d been a fool to go along with this. As if Felipe could have done what all the dragon slayers couldn’t. As if any of that could possibly have been true.

“You have to look after Pastor,” Gabriela whispered, a fresh wave of tears rolling down her face. “He wanted this baby so badly. We both did. You can’t let him go and do something stupid. You can’t let him go after the dragon. I can’t lose him as well.”

“Don’t worry,” Raffaela said, gently, even though that was a stupid thing to say. “Nobody is going to let Pastor do that. I promise.”

“He’s so angry,” Gabriela whispered, hiccupping a little. “He wanted this baby so badly and I’ve let him down.”

“Hey, stop it,” Raffaela said, moving around on the bed to sit in front of Gabriela, forcing her friend’s eyes onto her own. “This is not your fault. None of this is your fault. Is Felipe’s, and that monster’s.”

Raffaela shuddered at the thought. She’d been trying to convince herself all night that there was any way this couldn’t be her fiancé’s – or _ex_ -fiancé’s – fault. They said the dragon could control people with its eyes, didn’t they? Maybe it had done that. Raffaela didn’t think she really believed that, though. If the dragon could do that, he would have made Lord Blakely believe their story. Felipe had _wanted_ to do what he had done. Raffaela didn’t know why, but it was true.

“Do you think Rob could have…?” Gabriela didn’t finish, the question disappearing into thin air.

“Could have what?” Raffaela asked, whilst Gabriela covered her face with her hands again. “Gaby?”

“Could Rob have saved it?” Gabriela whispered. She knew it was no good. She didn’t even know _what_ Rob was, but she knew he’d saved lives. He’d taken her baby’s, but she couldn’t help but wonder if there was a chance, if the healer had changed back…

“I don’t know,” Raffaela said, softly, pulling Gabriela into a hug. “I do not think we will ever know.”

 

Felipe hadn’t been able to sleep at all. He was alone in the dungeons, the guards having returned to their posts outside the door at the top of the staircase. Light shone down into the dingy room from a window too high for Felipe to even think about trying to see through, and that was the only way he had any judgment of time passing at all.

He had no idea where Rob was or what had happened to him. Felipe could only hope his friend had managed to get to some kind of safety. This was all his fault. He’d promised Rob he would be able to live a normal life, but now Felipe doubted the healer would ever even want to try again. He’d be alone in some cave again and Felipe had _seen_ what he’d been like before. It would be even worse now, the shoe maker was sure of it.

He needed to get out here. He needed to explain what had happened to Raffaela, so she wouldn’t hate him, and he needed to go and make sure Rob was ok. This was all his fault and he needed to solve it.

When the door at the top of the stone stair case opened, Felipe jumped up. Hopefully it would be Raffaela. She would listen to him and maybe she would be able to explain to her father. If the king was the one descending, it would be more difficult to get out of this mess, but Felipe was sure he could do it.

It wasn’t any member of the royal family, though. Lord Blakely sneered at Felipe when he saw the shoe maker watching him. Felipe’s hands curled into fists at his side, even though he knew there was nothing he could do, with bars keeping the two men apart.

“Now then, traitor, dragon sympathiser,” Blakely said. “What shall we do with you?”

“There was no need for what you did,” Felipe spat.

“What I did? You mean show the monster for what it really is?” Blakely asked.

“Is not a monster,” Felipe snapped. “He is a _good_ person. Was helping people. You ruin everything.”

“A good person?” Blakely laughed. “I cannot decide if you are really so stupid you believe that, or you are _trying_ to destroy the kingdom. He’s killed people. Can you imagine the sight of an entire village burned to ash? Can you imagine having to live your entire life with the burns my Lucy had?”

“Can you imagine being alone your entire life?” Felipe replied. “You live with that guilt but you know you cannot do anything about it. You _hate_ yourself, but you cannot do anything to make things better.”

“You actually feel sorry for the dragon?” Blakely said, shaking his head. “Maybe you have the mind sickness you said I had. Maybe the dragon bewitched you?”

“I am fine,” Felipe said. “Is you who are sick.”

“Dragon sympathiser.”

“Rob is _not_ the dragon,” Felipe cried. “You do not understand. It only comes when he needs it. When people try to hurt him. If you had just left him be, everything would have been fine. You ruin everything.”

There was no use arguing with him, but Felipe couldn’t stop himself. He just wanted the lord to see what he had done. He wanted the lord to realise what a mistake he had made and make things better, but Felipe knew that would never really happen.

“Ruined everything for you, yes,” Blakely said. “But I don’t think the king will mind that much, what with my stopping his daughter marrying a dragon sympathizer and a traitor.”

Felipe didn’t reply. There was nothing he could say in answer to that, because Lord Blakely was right. Right about _that_ at least. The king would never allow him to marry Raffaela now, even if he did somehow manage to escape any kind of punishment. He’d risked having to lose Raffaela to provide some kind of life for Rob, and he’d blown it all.

“Let’s go back to the original question, shall we?” Blakely asked when Felipe didn’t reply, the smile back on his face. “What shall we do with you?”

 

It was freezing that night. The wind stung Raffaela’s tear soaked face but she couldn’t stand to be in the caste. Her father was trying to comfort her, trying to convince her she hadn’t been a complete fool, but it wasn’t working. She should never have believed Felipe. None of this would have happened if she hadn’t been such an idiot.

She had no idea why she’d come here of all places. Raffaela sat with her legs tucked under her at the top of the hill, looking out over the forest. And, up here, it was colder than ever, but Raffaela couldn’t bring herself to move. She felt like she needed to be here.

The sky was a deep, dark blue, not a hint of colour or flame in sight. The dragon didn’t come every night, Raffaela knew that, but maybe this meant it was gone. Maybe the events of the last few days had scared it into terrorising some place far away from here. If that had happened, at least it could be said that one good thing had come from all this.

“Oh!”

Raffaela spun around, surprised to find Lucy having made her way up the hill and now frozen to the spot.

“I didn’t know you were here, princess,” she said, with a little bow. “I’ll just go…”

“No, it’s fine,” Raffaela said, wiping her eyes quickly and patting the spot beside her. “You can stay.”

She tried to smile at Lucy, but it just made the tears that were welling in her eyes blur her vision even more. Lucy smiled back and came to sit beside Raffaela, putting her arm around the princess.

“You’re freezing,” she said.

“It does not matter,” Raffaela said, ignoring the instinct to wriggle and snuggle against the other woman. “None of this matters.”

“I heard about Gabriela,” Lucy said, quietly. “I’m so sorry.”

“It isn’t your fault,” Raffaela said, softly, brushing Lucy’s hair out of her face.

“Was,” Lucy said. “If I had not been brought her, father would not have come, and none of this would have happened.”

“If your father had not come, we would have been living with monsters,” Raffaela said. “I would have married one. You too.”

“You believe Felipe to be a monster too?” Lucy asked. She could understand Rob, but not Felipe.

Raffaela nodded. “Only a monster would bring a dragon into the castle and then try to protect him.”

Lucy shook her head. “He did that because Rob’s his friend.”

“And why would you be friends with a monster?” Raffaela hissed.

“Because he isn’t a monster,” Lucy said, quietly. She looked down at her hands again. It was difficult to see in the bad light, but she knew what she would find if she were to sit closer to the lantern she had brought. One looked almost the exact same as the other. She was fixed.

Raffaela watched Lucy gaze at her hands. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”

Lucy took a deep breath, hugging her arms around herself and trying to warm herself up. “When I was a little girl, my real parents died,” she said, looking out over the forest. “And I was sent to an orphanage in the village. It was nice there. Some of the other kids weren’t so nice but, most of the time, everyone got along. We had these… we had these skipping ropes. They were thick, heavy things, but I used to love skipping...”

 

_Lucy would drag the ropes out from the little toy shed in the corner of the yard every time they were allowed out into the yard to play. Today, there wasn’t anybody who wanted to play the big skipping games, but that was fine. She could play skipping by herself._

_She was going to be the best skipper in the entire orphanage, Lucy thought as the rope got faster and faster, wind wiping past her ear as she jumped. She was going to be the best skipper and one day she would win all the skipping games._

_“Umph.”_

_Lucy hit the floor with a loud smack, her arms protecting her face from the hard ground. When she tried to lift herself up, her arms wobbled and stung, but her legs made her cry out in pain. It had to be broken or something._

_She looked up, tears in her eyes, but none of the other children paid her any attention. They didn’t get to play outside for very long and they wanted to make the most of it._

_Lucy let out a small sob, sitting down in the dirt and looking at her legs. They didn’t look broken, but they really, really hurt whenever she moved them, her knees bleeding a little._

_“Are you alright?”_

_Lucy jumped and looked up, surprised to find the new boy coming over to help her._

_She’d seen the new boy about before. He was a boy, so he didn’t get to sleep in her room with the other girls, but Lucy had seen him in the big hall where they ate breakfast. He sat by himself most of the time, because he hadn’t been there long enough to make friends. Lucy had wanted to go over and talk to him, but she hadn’t wanted to leave her own friends._

_Lucy shook her head, messily scrubbing at her eyes to try to stop herself from crying._

_“My leg hurts,” she said, sadly. “Can you go and get nurse? Please?”_

_“It’s ok,” the boy said, sitting down beside her. “I can make it better.”_

_“No, need to go and get nurse,” Lucy said. She didn’t think this was going to be fixed by magic kiss-it-better._

_“Saw how mummy and daddy did it,” the boy said, wriggling his fingers a little to make Lucy laugh before pressing at the little girl’s knee. “Like this.”_

_Trying very hard to be careful, the new boy wiped the blood from Lucy’s knee and, as if by magic, the graze disappeared. Lucy gaped at him, already feeling a little better, as the boy went over to Lucy’s other side to fix her other knee._

_“What’s your name?” Lucy asked._

_“Rob,” the boy said. “What’s yours?”_

_“Lucy,” Lucy said. “You’re magic Rob.”_

_“Uh huh,” Rob said. “So were my mummy and daddy. But they’re not here anymore.”_

_“Neither are mine,” Lucy said, sadly. “You made my leg better.”_

_“Uh huh,” Rob said again, standing and helping Lucy up. She winced a little, expecting it to hurt a lot more than it did. She grinned at Rob, laughing a little._

_“Witch!”_

_Lucy looked around quickly, first trying to spot the witch and then, when she couldn’t find any, looking for who was shouting. A group of the other children were staring at them, one of the boys pointing at Rob._

_“Witch!” he said again._

_“I ain’t a witch,” Rob said._

_“Are!” the boy said. “I heard Nurse saying that your mummy and daddy were witches too, and that’s why they’re dead.”_

_“They were not witches!” Rob cried. When Lucy saw he was shaking, she took hold of his hand._

_“Were. Nurse said,” the boy said. “And you can do magic too. That means you’re a witch too._

_“They weren’t witches and neither am I,” Rob cried, letting go of Lucy’s hand and taking a step towards the boys._

_“If you’re not a witch then prove it,” the boy said._

_“Nurse said if you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all,” Lucy said, glaring at the other boy. “You’re not being very nice.”_

_“He’s a witch,” the boy said._

_“I AIN’T A WITCH!”_

_“Prove it then,” the boy said, pushing Rob a little. He stumbled back and Lucy jumped out of the way so her new friend hit the floor. “They say witches can’t bleed. So maybe if you bleed that means you’re not a witch.”_

“I ran off to go and get Nurse,” Lucy said, pulling her knees up to her chest as if that might make her a little warmer. “When I came back, the other kids were running away, screaming. And I couldn’t see Rob anywhere. But there was the dragon.”

She could feel Raffaela staring at her, but didn’t look over at the princess, not really wanting to know what her reaction would be in case it wasn’t something she liked.

“I didn’t know he _was_ the dragon, but I knew it was something to do with him,” Lucy said. “And those eyes… I thought it might be him as soon as I saw him. The more I spoke to him, the more I knew I’d gotten it right.”

“But you…” Raffaela couldn’t stop staring at Lucy. It didn’t make any sense. She’d seen how Lucy had been around Rob. She couldn’t know he… she couldn’t have known he was behind her burns.

“He’s more than the dragon, Raffaela,” Lucy said. “He wouldn’t have healed my burns if he didn’t feel guilty for what he did. I think we need to go and speak to him.”


	14. Rescue

“Princess Raffaela,” Lord Blakely said, as the princess came back into the castle through the rear entrance, Lucy following behind her. “It is late for you to be out, isn’t it?”

“I may go out when I chose,” Raffaela said, coldly, looking the lord up and down. Her eyes rested on blood covered hands. “And is it not late for you to be up and about?”

“I’ve been completing tasks at the king’s request,” Lord Blakely said. “But I am free now, if you need me to escort you to your chamber.”

He offered his arm for Raffaela to take, but the princess wouldn’t touch him. Her eyes flicked between the lord’s blood covered hands and his slimy smile, and Lucy knew what she was thinking, but they didn’t have time to deal with that right now.

“What kind of tasks?” Raffaela asked, her eyes narrowing.

“Princess,” Lucy hissed, tugging on Raffaela’s sleeve.

“Maybe you should ask your father, princess,” Lord Blakely said.

“Maybe I shall,” Raffaela said.

“Princess,” Lucy said, sternly. It wasn’t her place to speak to royalty in such a way, but they couldn’t afford to lose their focus to her father’s games. When Lucy tugged on Raffaela’s sleeve again, the princess snapped out of her glare, suddenly remembering what they were supposed to be doing.

She couldn’t leave Lord Blakely smiling like that, though.

“If you touch Felipe…”

“What, princess?” Blakely said, still smiling, when Raffaela couldn’t finish her threat.

Raffaela gritted her teeth, not really knowing how she _wanted_ to finish her threat, then turned on her heel and followed Lucy up the stairs. Thankfully, Lord Blakely didn’t follow them.

 

The horses were stolen, but the stable hands monitoring the stables that night didn’t seem to complain when the princess and her companion took two of the fastest horses. A few raised eyebrows, but nobody tried to stop the two women.

Lucy was getting more and more nervous as they fled the castle. They needed to go and see Rob. It was the only way they would be able to get this all sorted out. But maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to do with no plan or defence. She trusted Rob, but the dragon… She was sure that was a different matter entirely. And her friend didn’t seem to be in the right mind since bumping into Lord Blakely. The princess had barely spoken a word since her empty threat, and Lucy hoped she would be somewhat competent when they eventually reached Rob’s hiding place.

If he had even gone back to the same hiding place. Lucy couldn’t be sure that would be the case, and she’d tried to ask Raffaela her thoughts on the matter, but the princess had barely acknowledged she’d spoken, and _that_ made Lucy even more worried.

They took the path through the forest that had been cleared by the search party, their journey a lot smoother than Felipe’s had been months ago. The near silence in the forest was eerie and made Lucy shiver. She could hear wolves howling somewhere in the distance, and clutched the reigns she was holding even tighter, hoping the horse would be able to outrun any predator they may stumble across. Raffaela didn’t seem concerned by it all. Lucy would glance over to her friend every few moments, but the only emotion on Raffaela’s face was determinedness.

The forest gave way to a grassy plain that the two women reached just as dawn began to break in the east, casting a warm orange glow over their dismal surroundings. Most of the grass was a dry yellow, with burnt patches scattered around the field. Ahead of them and to the east, the plains went on for miles. To the west, a rocky cliff face towered over the grass, cracked and broken, the shadows hiding caves.

“It’s here, isn’t it?” Lucy said as Raffaela’s horse slowed a little.

The princess looked out over the plain, scanning the waste land.

“It was here,” she said. “It lived in one of the caves. Whether it came back here or not is a different matter.”

Raffaela dug her heels into the sides of her horse, spurring it on to go to investigate the caves. Lucy followed behind, still unsure about her friend’s sanity.

 

Rob stared at the sword as the blade turned to dust, tears swelling in his eyes. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t carry on like this.

“Why won’t you just die?” he moaned, sinking another of the abandoned blades into his stomach. There was no pain, no blood, no incision. Dust now covered his hand and, when he scrubbed his eyes to try to get the tears away, stung his eyes. “Why won’t you just leave me alone? _Please_. Just leave me alone.”

Rob sank to his knees and another sob escaped from his lips. He pulled the blanket he’d left behind tighter around himself, still cold in the cave even when the sun had risen.

“Why won’t you let me die?” he whispered. But the dragon gave no reply. It never did.

“Rob?”

Rob froze, suddenly able to feel the eyes on the back of his head. There was a rumble inside his head, the dragon beginning to stir like it always did when someone wandered into the cave. Rob screwed his eyes shut, pleading with the monster.

There were footsteps, a couple, before whoever they belonged to stopped in their tracks, apparently scared to go any further. Rob didn’t blame them.

He stood, slowly, pulling the blanket tighter around himself as if that might stop him shaking. As if the cold was what was making him shiver.

There were more footsteps and Rob felt an arm pull him into a hug.

“Are you alright?”

Rob spun around and found himself looking into Lucy’s tear filled eyes. He shook his head.

“You need to go,” he said.

He could see Raffaela hovering at the mouth of the cave, but he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. He shook his head again, pulling himself away from Lucy when she tried to cup his face in her hands.

“You can’t be here,” he said. “It’ll hurt you.”

“I know you’re not going to hurt me, Rob,” Lucy said, softly, standing up onto her toes to press a kiss to Rob’s lips. “I know you Rob.”

He couldn’t take his eyes away from Lucy’s. They were calming, quieting the dragon’s rumble for the first time since the dragon had returned.

“We all know you,” Raffaela said after a moment. Her arms were folded as she marched away from the horses, joining Lucy and Rob in the cave. “What you are.”

“Felipe,” Rob said, gulping. It was clear Raffaela wasn’t happy but that didn’t mean anything. “Is Felipe alright? Did I do anything to him?”

“You don’t remember?” Raffaela asked, her stone cold face softening a little.

“Please. Please say I didn’t-.”

“He’s fine,” Lucy insisted, trying to get Rob to focus on her. “He’s in prison, but he’s fine.”

“You don’t remember?” Raffaela asked again.

Rob shook his head. “I remember what happened, what Blakely did. But I can’t remember what happens when I… change.”

He cringed at the thought of it, but everything after the dragon took over was blank and he _hated_ it.

“But everybody’s ok?” Rob said. “I… didn’t hurt anybody?”

“Other than Gabriela’s baby,” Raffaela said.

Rob let out a sigh of relief before he understood entirely what Raffaela said. “The baby?”

Raffaela shook her head, sadly, using everything she had to stop herself from crying at the thought of her friend.

Rob choked on his own breath, words not forming no matter how hard he tried. He shook his head in disbelief, tears forming in his own eye.

“Gone?” he managed to say.

Raffaela nodded.

“I am so… I am so sorry,” Rob said, stepping past Lucy to try and… he didn’t even know what he could do but he needed to make things better. “I tried to get Felipe to make you all leave. I’m sorry.”

“Could you have saved it?” Raffaela asked, holding her head high and refusing to cry. “If you hadn’t left, could you have saved the baby?”

“I don’t know,” Rob said. He’d never had to do something like that. It was a possibility but he didn’t think he would ever find out now.

“You look freezing,” Lucy said, wrapping her arms around Rob and trying to warm him up a little. Rob closed his eyes but didn’t hug her back, focusing on breathing and trying to stop himself from crying again. “Come on, let us take you home.”

“I can’t go back,” Rob said, pulling away from Lucy suddenly. “I shouldn’t have gone there in the first place. If I’d never gone to the village with Felipe, none of this would have happened.”

“If you hadn’t gone to the village, I wouldn’t be here, would I?” Lucy said. “You have done good things, Rob.”

“But they don’t make up for everything else,” Rob said. “If it wasn’t for me, you would never have gotten your scars in the first place.”

“You can’t help it, can you?” Lucy said. “I don’t believe you would have hurt anybody if you meant to. Rob? Look at me, Rob. You are not a bad person.”

“Just go, Lucy,” Rob said. He would survived. He’d survived twenty years, he could do another twenty if he needed to. But he couldn’t go back. There was no way Lord Blakely was going to let him go back peacefully and he would just end up hurting even more people and he could not let that happen.

“I’m not going without you, Rob,” Lucy said, softly, trying to take his hand, but Rob pulled away.

“I am a _dragon_ , Lucy!” Rob cried. “I can’t go back. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Yes you can,” Raffaela said, stepping forward again. She had the look of determination back on her face, Lucy noticed, and Lucy stepped aside to let the princess speak to Rob. Rob shuffled back a couple of steps, the look on Raffaela’s face scaring him a little, the dragon’s low growl filling his head. “But first you must explain.”

“Explain?” Rob asked.

“Explain what you are,” Raffaela said. “Lucy has already told me about the day at the orphanage. But this is years and years ago. Want to know what has happened, what you are, and how you make my fiancé lie to me.”

“Felipe _chose_ to lie to you,” Rob said. “I wanted to stay here. I wanted to stay out of everybody’s way because I _knew_ something like this was going to happen. But Felipe insisted. Felipe told me I could have a normal life and that’s all I’ve ever wanted, Raffaela.”

He should have refused. He’d known it was too good to be true and _Felipe_. He’d believed a shoe maker he barely knew who thought he could come into a cave as unprepared as he was and fight a dragon and survive. Felipe was a nice enough guy but he didn’t have an ounce of common sense and Rob knew he should never have believed him.

“It only comes when it thinks I need protecting,” Rob explained again, his eyes dropping to the floor so he didn’t have to look at either of the women. “So here, I’m safe. As long as nobody comes, I don’t hurt anybody. That’s why I couldn’t go home when I was a kid and that’s why I can’t go back to the village now. It’s safer for everybody if I just stay here.”

“But if it only comes when you need protecting, it only comes when you are attacked,” Lucy said, taking hold of Rob’s hand and forcing him to look up. “We just make sure nobody attacks you.”

“And how do you do that?” Rob asked. “I’m a dragon. I’ve hurt people. And people are going to want to hurt me back now that they know. I don’t blame them. I really don’t. If it were down to me, I wouldn’t be here either.”

“Don’t say things like that,” Lucy said quietly, taking Rob’s hand and brushing it against her cheek.

“It’s true,” Rob said. “Everyone would be better off without me, wouldn’t they?”

“Maybe this is true,” Raffaela said, “But you are here, and so we have to find a way to make this work for everybody, including you. We go back to the castle and I will speak to my father. You are not staying here Rob.”

“I’m not going back!” Rob yelled, wincing at the low grumble inside his head. He took a deep breath, calming down and hoping that would calm the dragon too, but the rumble only got louder. “I can’t go back,” Rob said, quietly.

“I don’t think you have a choice.”

Raffaela and Lucy spun around, surprised to find they had company. In the form of Lucy’s father and his men. Rob took a step back, but there was nowhere to run in the cave and the men were blocking the exit and getting closer.

“Father,” Lucy tried when Lord Blakely climbed down from the horse he was sitting upon, but the lord just ignored her. “Father, _please_. You don’t understand. Don’t do this.”

Rob stumbled further back, praying Lord Blakely would listen to his daughter and call off the men that were approaching, but there was nowhere he could go. He screwed his eyes shut, trying to block out everything else and whispered what were supposed to be calming thoughts to himself and the dragon, but all that disappeared when he felt someone take hold of both his arms and his knees buckle.

Rob shook his head and opened his eyes, finding himself looking up at Lord Blakely again. The lord grinned, reaching to his belt and taking a little glass vial from a holder.

“Lord Blakely,” Raffaela snapped, the authority in her voice making the lord stop for a moment. “I am the princess and I am ordering you to leave that man alone.”

There was a moment when Rob could see the lord considering his options. Raffaela _was_ a princess, and one that seemed to have her father wrapped around her little finger.

Rob’s heart thumped against his chest and he could feel himself going dizzy already, the roaring of the dragon almost drowning out everything and everyone.

A smirk appeared on Blakely’s face and he pulled the stopped from the vial.

“You think you’re very clever, don’t you dragon,” he said, his words almost lost on Rob who could barely hear himself think over the roars inside his head. “There’s more than one way to stop a heart.”

With wide eyes, Raffaela and Lucy watched, uselessly, as Lord Blakely took hold of Rob’s jaw and forced the healer to drink the potion.


	15. How To Get Rid Of A Dragon

The courtyard in front of the castle had been prepared in Lord Blakely’s absence, like he had asked. The king hadn’t been so sure at first, after the damage the lord’s first attempt to kill the monster had caused, but he’d been assured that there would be none of that this time.

“It’s simple, your highness,” the lord had explained whilst the king’s servants had gone to find him and his men horses to go and fetch the beast. “Whilst a dragon’s insides are able to sustain a great about of heat, its outer body is not. And once the scales are heated enough, it is possible to pierce them. Pierce the scales, pierce the heart, slit the throat. The only reason that doesn’t work is because it’s difficult to get the dragon to remain in one place long enough to be burned. But if I were to have the dragon drink a sleeping potion whilst still in human form, I think I might be able to do it.”

The king had still been uncertain, but given the lord the benefit of the doubt. After all, it wasn’t as if anybody else had any other plan.

 

By the time Raffaela and Lucy had returned to the castle, there was already a large crowd in the courtyard. Apparently the village people couldn’t keep away, even after running for their lives the first time Lord Blakely had gathered them all. Raffaela grabbed hold of Lucy’s hand and pulled her through the crowd, searching for the king. She would be able to convince her father to stop this from happening.

The king stood beside the wood that had been gathered for the bonfire, watching Lord Blakely’s men tie Rob’s hands and feet. The healer was still unconscious, and had been dressed in rags and smothered in animal fats. Lord Blakely’s research had been limited, but he didn’t want to take too long for the body to burn enough to be penetrated, and anything that would help the fire along would be useful.

“You cannot let him do this,” Raffaela said, taking hold of her father’s hand and making him look at her. “Father, you know Rob. He is a good man. You cannot let him be killed.”

“And we cannot let the dragon continue to terrorise us,” the king said. “I am sorry but I have to protect my people, Raffaela. You know that.”

“What if there was another way?” Raffaela asked. She knew Rob must have tried everything he could to get the dragon to leave, but what if they could find a way? What if they came up with something the healer had not thought of? There was a chance and, if it saved Rob’s life, Raffaela would take it. “What if I can make the dragon leave without killing Rob?”

“Is there a way?” the king asked, curiously. Lord Blakely seemed to be the expert in this kind of thing, and the king was sure the lord wouldn’t kill anybody unless it were necessary…

“I think there might be,” Raffaela said. Nothing sprang to mind, but she had a feeling she might know someone who had a way. She just needed her father to give her enough time to find out.

“How?” the king asked.

Raffaela bit her lip. She couldn’t admit she didn’t quite know, or her father would never let her find out. Instead, she turned to Lucy.

“Put this off until I get back,” she said, quickly, before turning on her heal and pushing her way back through the crowd.

Before she could get inside the castle, a hand caught her wrist and pulled her to a stop. Raffaela turned and was about to bite whoever it was head off before she saw who was holding her hand.

“Gaby? Gaby, you should not be here. You should be resting. Recovering.”

“They’re going to kill the dragon?” Gabriela said, and Raffaela was surprised to hear tears in her voice. “They’re going to kill Rob?”

“Not if I can help it,” Raffaela said. Gabriela was still holding onto her hand, but she didn’t have enough time to explain to her friend so she just dragged Gabriela behind her as she raced to the dungeons.

“What?” Gabriela cried. “But… you are going to save the dragon.”

“I’m going to save Rob,” Raffaela corrected her. “The dragon takes over his body. He hates it as much as we do. But if we can find a way to get the dragon to leave his body then we can save him.”

“And there is a way to do that?” Gabriela asked.

“I do not know,” Raffaela said. “But I think Felipe will.”

Gabriela stopped her hand falling away from her friend’s. “Felipe?”

“I know you do not trust him,” Raffaela said, stopping and tapping her foot impatiently. They did not have time for this.

“It’s not that,” Gabriela said. “It’s just… Lord Blakely…”

Raffaela didn’t wait for Gabriela to finish, grabbing hold of her friend’s hand and dragging her to the dungeons.

 

“Oh how I wish you could be awake to see this,” Lord Blakely murmured, inspecting his unconscious captive. “You were there when your parents burnt, weren’t you dragon? Do you still dream of their screams? I still remember the look on your face whilst you watched the witches go up in flames. They were a nosey pair, weren’t they? It’s a shame we won’t be able to hear you go the same way. I don’t know if I’ll get the same pleasure from watching the blood trickle out of your lifeless body.”

“Father, look at me,” Lucy screamed at him, pulling on her father until he eventually stepped away from Rob, leaving him at the foot of the still unlit bonfire. “He made me better, father. He tried to make things right. You can’t do this. You can’t punish him for something he can’t help.”

She didn’t know how she was supposed to put this off, or how long she was supposed to put it off for, but she was going to do her best. She gulped as her father handed the torch to one of his men, taking a step towards Lucy and cupping her face in his hands.

“I took you in when nobody else would,” Lord Blakely said, brushing his thumb against the unfamiliar skin on her cheek. “You would have been at an orphanage for the rest of your childhood if I hadn’t taken you in.”

“I know,” Lucy said. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d been told that, the number of times she’d been told how much nobody would want her.

“He did that to you,” Blakely said, waving a hand behind him to where Rob lay. “He made you into that.”

“The dragon did,” Lucy said. “But he made me better.”

“And that makes up for it, does it?” Blakely asked. “The life time of embarrassment we have suffered is made up for now?”

“He tried,” Lucy said.

“He has killed people, Lucy,” Lord Blakely said. “And for that he must be punished.”

He took the torch back from the man standing beside him, ordering for Rob to be put atop the bonfire.

 

“Felipe!”

Everything was dark and fuzzy, but Felipe would know that voice anywhere. He tried to sit up, but the pain was too much and he fell back into a heap on the floor. Metal against stone screeched in his ears as the dungeon door was opened and then cold, shaking hands pressed against Felipe’s slightly numb face.

“What did he do to you?” Raffaela whispered, pressing a kiss to her fiancé’s blood covered forehead. Felipe’s face was bruised and swollen, his clothes blood stained in places. Raffaela’s stomach rolled, the memory of bumping into Lord Blakely the night before coming to mind. His hands… She’d _known_ , but she hadn’t done anything about it. Now, it might have been too late. “Felipe, sweet heart, open your eyes for me.”

Felipe tried to open his eyes, but he could barely see anything, and anything that could be seen was a blur of colour. Raffaela smiled, tears in her eyes.

“We’ll get you to Rob,” she promised. “Rob will save you but we need to save him first. Lord Blakely has him and the only way to get him out is to find a way to get rid of the dragon. Do you know how to do that?”

Felipe opened his mouth to speak but he couldn’t get the air to go up his throat right and choked on his words.

“Careful, careful, it’s ok,” Raffaela said, trying to keep the panic out of her own voice with little success. “Calm down. It’s going to be ok.”

“Dragon…” Felipe began again, his words strangled and his mouth not quite moving the way he wanted it to. “Protects Rob.”

“Yes, dear, we know that,” Raffaela said. This was- No. This was _not_ hopeless. They were going to save Rob and they were going to save Felipe. “How do we get it to leave?”

Felipe had to know. If there was anybody who knew how to help Rob, it would be Felipe. He wouldn’t have risked everyone’s lives if he hadn’t thought he could prevent the dragon from coming, would he?

“Felipe _please_ ,” Raffaela whispered, sitting on the grimy dungeon floor and pulling her fiancé onto her lap. “Please, you need to tell me and then we can make you better. Open your eyes. Open your eyes, Felipe, please. Felipe, _look at me._ ”

Felipe couldn’t open his eyes again and, when his lips parted, all he could manage was a strained breath.

“Are going to need to come up with an answer ourselves,” Gabriela said, but Raffaela only moved to press another kiss to Felipe’s forehead. “Come on!” she cried, pulling on her friend’s arm. “If we do not save Rob then we do not save Felipe. He cannot answer us. We must come up with something ourselves.”

Raffaela stumbled away from Felipe, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Gabriela was right. If they were going to do this, she had to calm down.

“Felipe was saying something to him,” Raffaela remembered. “Before he changed before, Felipe was saying something. Trying to calm Rob down.”

That didn’t help. Raffaela was sure Rob would have gotten rid of the dragon by now if staying calm was all it took to get rid of the monster altogether. They needed more than that.

“The dragon comes to protect Rob,” Gabriela said, trying to order her friend’s thoughts.

“Yes,” Raffaela said. She _knew_ that. But how exactly were they supposed to stop the dragon from protecting him? She was pretty sure Rob must have tried telling the dragon he didn’t want it or need it… “I have an idea.”

“What?” Gabriela asked.

“If we show the dragon Rob has us to protect him, it might see that it’s not needed and leave,” Raffaela explained, glancing down at Felipe before hurrying out of the dungeon.

“And you think that will work?” Gabriela asked, following Raffaela.

“I think it’s going to have to,” Raffaela said. “Get the guards to bring Felipe up to Rob. We cannot waste any more time.”


	16. Fall of the Dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter is a tad bit of a let down. You know I'm not too good with endings. :S

_Too hot._

_Too hot!_

_TOO HOT!_

_Get up._

_Get up!_

_GET UP!_

_MOVE!_

None of the crowd said a word as Lord Blakely touched the burning torch to the bottom of the bonfire, all of them able to hear Lucy’s screams. The dry wood caught quickly and the lord stepped back, a smug grin on his face. Now he only had to complete the second part of this plan and it would be over. Decades of living with the humiliation would be finished.

“No!”

Raffaela had seen the smoke from the castle doorway and raced through the crowd to reach Rob, but her father stopped her before she could dive into the bonfire herself.

“There’s a way, father, please,” Raffaela begged, struggling against her father. “Please.”

“Your daughter is sick, your majesty,” Lord Blakely said, turning away from the bonfire with the torch still in his hand.

“I am not sick,” Raffaela said, glaring at the lord before turning to the king, tears already rushing down her face. “Father, there is a way to get rid of the dragon without killing Rob. Please, let me try.”

“And risk hurting everybody here?” Lord Blakely said, not letting the king speak. “Princess, you are ill. Maybe you should go back to your chamber. I can take you, if you’d give me a moment.”

“I’m not giving you anything,” Raffaela spat, taking a step back when Lord Blakely stepped towards her.

A collective gasp from the crowd had the lord spinning around before he could touch the princess. Raffaela stopped struggling for a moment to look over Blakely’s shoulder, where a figure was attempting to pull Rob off of the fire. The brief confusion allowed her to pull away from her father, throwing herself into the flames to help the rescuer.

“Pastor!” Gabriela screamed, pushing her way through the crowd.

Lord Blakely dragged Lord Maldonado away from the bonfire, pulling Rob down with them. Raffaela rushed forwards, dragging Rob away from the flames. The healer was still unconscious, but he was alive, the flames not having reached him yet with any significance.

“Rob? Rob, I need you to wake up for me,” Raffaela called, gently shaking Rob, but the healer would not wake.

“Have you all lost your minds?” Lord Blakely cried, pulling away from Maldonado.

“My baby is _dead_ ,” Maldonado cried, pointing an accusing finger at Blakely. “My baby is dead and that is _your_ fault. You are a vile man, Blakely. You always have been. But you come here and cause trouble.”

“You really have lost your minds,” Blakely cried. “The dragon would have killed you all if I hadn’t stepped in.”

“It would not even have come at all if you had not stepped in,” Lucy said.

Raffaela was doing her best to ignore the commotion behind her. She needed to get this dragon out of Rob and she had a feeling that wasn’t going to be an easy task. The princess sat with the healer’s head on her lap.

“Dragon,” she said, seriously. “Can you hear me? Rob does not need you, alright? Do you understand me? Rob does not need you to look after him. We are going to look after him. We are going to make sure nothing bad happens to him. He does not need you. You do not need to be here.”

Maldonado swung his fist at Blakely, only for the elder man to step out of the way. Gabriela screamed again and put herself between the two men, stopping her husband from making another attack.

“Pastor! Pastor, please,” Gabriela said. “Don’t be stupid.”

“Our child would still be here if it were not for him,” Pastor said, pointing at Blakely again. “We were all fine without him.”

Lucy sat at Raffaela’s side, her hands covering her mouth to try to quieten the sobs. Raffaela looked between Rob and Lucy. This wasn’t working. She needed to do something else…

“Lucy, say something,” Raffaela said, pulling her new friend closer.

“What?”

“Anything?”

“Rob?” Lucy said, her voice shaking. “Rob, can you hear me? Wake up. Please.”

“You hear her, dragon?” Raffaela asked. “You nearly killed her. But Rob saved her life. And now all she wants to do is repay the favour. You cannot save him. You are hurting Rob. We can protect him. Let us do it. Leave him alone.”

“You think that will help?” Lord Blakely laughed. “ _Reasoning_ with a wild beast. Princess, you are ill. Come away from him, before you hurt yourself.”

Raffaela took a deep breath and closed her eyes, ignoring the lord.

“You cannot protect him anymore, dragon,” Raffaela said. “Leaving him is protecting him. It’s all you can do if you want to help him. Please, let us protect him.”

“I have had enough,” Lord Blakely snapped, grabbing hold of Raffaela’s shoulder and ragging her away from the still unconscious healer. Raffaela stumbled to her feet and out of the lord’s grip, spinning around to glare at him.

“Leave,” she ordered.

“Your majesty,” Blakely said, laughing as he turned to Raffaela’s father to get the king’s opinion. “I would suggest you find somebody to come and take care of your daughter. No doubt the dragon infected her mind as he did the shoe maker?”

“And I would suggest you do as my daughter tells you to do,” the kind said, folding his arms.

Raffaela looked past Lord Blakely and met her father’s eyes. He smiled and nodded, castle guards moving forward to escort the lord away from the castle. Before Blakely could take a step away from them, though, the dragon’s ear piercing screech broke the silence.

As the crowd of villagers began to hurry away from the sound, having learned from their mistakes, Raffaela dropped to the floor beside a now writhing Rob, holding the healer’s head still.

“Dragon, listen to me!” Raffaela shouted over the noise, trying to keep the same authority in her voice. “We will protect him. All of us here will protect him. He does not _need_ you anymore. Leave him.”

“What do we do?” Lucy yelled, her hands over her ears as if that would stop the noise.

“Go and find out where Felipe is,” Raffaela ordered. He’d need to be here as soon as possible to undo the damage Lord Blakely had done.

Lucy stood, her legs shaking beneath her. The crowd that had gathered to watch the dragon’s execution were now running as fast as they could from the source of the noise, causing chaos for Lucy to stumble through.

“You cannot protect him dragon,” Raffaela said, preying to the gods that this really was working. “Staying here is killing him, you need to leave. If you want to protect him, you have to leave.”

The shrieking stopped and everyone fell silent. Raffaela froze, not entirely sure what this meant, but Rob hadn’t stopped thrashing yet and, after a few moments, the healer’s mouth opened wide enough for a black smoke to poor out.

“Come away, Raffaela,” the king whispered, pulling his daughter away from Rob. They both stood a few couple of steps back, watching the smoke coat the floor. At first, those closest to the healer’s lifeless body shuffled back as the smoke approached them, but it was clear it caused no harm, rising into a cloud of black that covered the sky.

“What is that?” Gabriela asked as her husband tried to pull her away. Neither one of them could take their eyes off of the rising smoke.

“It’s the dragon,” Raffaela said, taking a step away from her father once she realised what had happened. “Dragon? Dragon, look at us. We’re all here to protect Rob and we can all do a better job than you. You must _leave_. Please, go.”

There was another screech and Raffaela couldn’t tell where exactly it was from, but it made her shudder, the wind wiping up around her. She screwed her eyes closed, preying this wasn’t the last time she ever did so, and waited for the screeching and the wind to stop. After what felt like an eternity, it very suddenly did, the smoke disappearing, and then there was the silence again.

“Rob!”

Lucy was rushing forward before Raffaela could even open her eyes, the guards following behind her with Felipe carried between them.

“Rob, are you ok?”

Groggily, the healer opened his eyes. His head was sore and his vision was fuzzy and he had no idea what had happened to his arms, but he… he _thought_ he was ok.

“Lucy?”

Lucy let out a small sob before pulling Rob into her arms whilst the healer tried to sort out his mind.

“What… what happened?”

“The dragon is gone,” Raffaela said, rushing over and waving for the guards to bring Felipe too. She didn’t dare look at him, not wanting to find out it was too late.

“Gone?” Rob asked, sitting up suddenly and making everything spin. He shook his head. “No, it can’t be gone. It doesn’t… it never leaves.”

“It’s gone,” Lucy said, beaming. “You don’t have to worry about it anymore. It’s gone.”

“Get something to cut the ties,” Raffaela said. “Rob, Felipe is hurt. You need to help him.”

Raffaela stood and pulled Lucy out of the way so that the guards could cut the ties around Rob’s arms and bring Felipe to him. The shoe maker had only gotten worse and Raffaela just hoped that Rob’s powers hadn’t been taken by the dragon as it left.

Rob looked between Raffaela and Felipe grimly.

 

Rob couldn’t be sure the dragon was really gone. He’d run a blade against the palm of his hand and had been delighted to see blood ooze from the slit it had made. That was as much confirmation as he could get.

It had been weeks since Blakely had tried to kill him and, though the lord kept trying to return, he had not been successful. There was no rumble at the back of Rob’s mind and that too suggested the dragon really was gone.

He looked out of the window in the room that had once been the ball room, over the little village and to the trees at the edge of the woods. He wondered where it had gone, if it really had gone, and whether it was coming back. Maybe it had found someone else to protect. He didn’t know, but he didn’t like to think of it either.

Rob was pulled from his thoughts by footsteps on the polished wood of the ball room. The women who helped him had all headed home at the end of the day, and Rob hadn’t been expecting company. A smile broke onto his face when he saw it was Lucy who had broken the silence.

“How are you feeling?” Lucy asked him, running her thumb over the faint pink line that crossed Rob’s hand.

“I’m fine,” Rob insisted. He didn’t think she’d believe him though. She hadn’t believed him the past hundred times he’d told her either.

“None of what happened was your fault,” Lucy whispered, bringing Rob’s hand up to her check and looking up at him.

“It sort of was,” Rob said, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to look down at Lucy. All of this was his fault, and he knew it. “Gabriela’s baby… Felipe…” Rob shuddered at the thought of it.

“It is not your fault,” Lucy said, standing on her toes to press a gentle kiss to Rob’s lips. “Felipe would be dead without you.”

“Yeah, and he wouldn’t have been like that if it weren’t for me,” Rob said.

“He’s asking for you,” Lucy said. “Raffaela says you haven’t even gone in there since he woke up.”

“Yeah, well…” Rob could feel himself going red and he sighed, pulling away from Lucy. He couldn’t go in there, not after what he’d done.

“He’s worried about you, Rob,” Lucy said. “We all are.”

“You don’t have to worry about me,” Rob said. He was perfectly fine. They just needed to believe him.

“Alright,” Lucy said, stepping back and holding up her hands. “Just come and say hello to him. Please. Tell him yourself to stop worrying.”

 

“And father says that everything is ready, and as soon as you are well again, we can be married,” Raffaela said, happily, sitting on the bed beside Felipe.

“I am well _now_ ,” Felipe said, but it only got a laugh from Raffaela and he pushed himself back into the pillows, unimpressed.

“Calm down,” Raffaela said, brushing Felipe’s hair out of his face. “You will be better soon. Do not worry.”

“Do not worry about getting better,” Felipe muttered to himself. “Do not worry about the wedding. Do not worry about Rob. All I am told is to not worry about anything and all that does is make me-.”

A knock at the door stopped Felipe from finishing and they both looked up.

“Come in,” Raffaela called as she stood whilst Felipe continued to grumble to himself.

The door slowly swung open and Rob stood in the door way.

“Hello.”


	17. A life time (seven years) later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thank you to everyone who read this and left comments and kudos. I finished. I hope you like the ending. Sorry if it's a bit disappointing. Comments and crit always welcome.

Victoria Maldonado clapped her hands when she saw the cake her mother was bringing over to the picnic blanket, gurgling excitedly.

“Is that for you?” her father asked, bouncing the little girl on his lap. “I think it is.”

“Boys!” Lucy called to where her sons and Raffaela’s little boy were playing by the little pond. “Come and sing happy birthday to Victoria.”

The boys groaned, having to stop their game, but soon cheered up when they saw the cake.

“Do we have to sing?” Felipinho asked. “Can we not just have cake?”

“You have to sing,” his father told him, sitting with Raffaela on the itchy blanket, grinning at the way Victoria bounced on her own father’s lap.

 _“Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to Victoria… Happy Birthday to you_.”

Victoria just giggled and tried to grab the cake, so Gabriela blew the little candle out for her, getting cheers from the others that had gathered in the garden.

“Now can we go and play?” Frankie asked, standing and pulling Felipinho up with him.

“Alright,” Lucy said, laughing. “But make sure you don’t get too close to the pond.”

The boys grinned and nodded before running off, leaving the adults and the two youngest children alone with the cake.

Felipe and Rob sat a little to the side, letting the women and Lord Maldonado fuss over the birthday girl whilst they sat in the sunshine and drank. Felipe caught Raffaela’s eye as he turned to watch the boys run to the edge of the pond, and his wife smiled. She’d been right, of course. Nothing to worry about.

“Uncle Phillip,” Felix said, plonking himself down on Felipe’s lap and winding him for a moment. “Tell the dragon story.”

“The what?” Felipe asked, laughing a little and shifting Felix to sit down between himself and Rob.

“The dragon story,” Felix said again, his fingers in his mouth. “Daddy says you tell it better than he does.”

“Is this his way of saying “have told this story every night for three years, am not doing it again”?” Raffaela asked, watching them.

“I think so,” Lucy said.

“Felipe had the same plan,” Raffaela said with a smile.

“Did he now?” Felipe said, shooting Rob a glare. The healer just grinned at him, returning to his glass of wine without saying a word. “Alright. Why don’t you go and get Felipinho and your brother and see if they want to listen to.”

Felix jumped up and toddled over to his friends. Rob was still holding in a laugh and Felipe wrinkled his nose.

“I hate you.”

It wouldn’t be so bad if he were only made to tell the story every once in a while, but Felipinho wanted it every night. Felipe was sick of the story, as was Rob.

“Are you going to tell the dragon story?” Felipinho asked, rushing over with the Smedley boys racing behind him.

“I suppose I might,” Felipe said. “With some _help_.”

The children sat around, Victoria toddling over with her hands and face covered in cake. Felipe sighed and smiled patiently at them. He didn’t even have to think about what he was going to say, having retold this story enough times.

“Once upon a time,” Felipe said. “There was a very brave knight called Felipe.”

“Phillip,” Frankie piped up.

“Huh?”

“The knight,” Frankie said, rocking a little in excitement. “Daddy says his name was Phillip.”

“Does he now?” Felipe said, glancing over at Rob with a smug smirk. “Well, I am telling this story and I am saying the brave knight was called Felipe…”

 

“And they all lived happily ever after,” Felipe said. It was the second time he’d said it, having tried rushing the story when he noticed all the children were half asleep, but Felipinho had soon picked up on it and made his father go back. This time, the child’s dozy smile suggested he was happy with his story.

“Come on!” Felipinho said, jumping up and dragging Frankie up too. “I’m the brave knight. You can be the dragon!”

“ _I’m_ not the dragon,” Frankie complained. “I want to be the brave knight.”

He hurried after Felipinho to try to find somewhere away from the food and their parents.

“You can be the dragon, Frankie,” Felipinho complained. “And Victoria can be the princess.”

“Am the dragon!” Victoria cried, jumping up and bouncing after the boys before roaring as hard as she could and tripping over her own feet.

Frankie and Felipinho giggled.

“Alright,” Frankie said. “But I’m the dragon tamer, that means. And that means Felix is the princess!”

“I don’t want to be the princess,” Felix said, grumpily. “Princess is for girls.”

“You can be a boy princess,” Felipinho said. “Come on. Play by the pond.”

“Stay away from the pond!” Raffaela called.

Felipe grinned as he watched the children hurry off, pretending to listen to Raffaela and only edging towards the pond. When he turned back around to Rob, he was surprised to find the healer looking at him with a dopey smile on his face.

“Come on,” Rob said, standing. “We’ll go for a walk.”

“Sure,” Lucy said. “They get them all hyperactive and then leave.”

“Yep,” Rob said, leaning down to kiss Lucy on the cheek before taking Felipe’s hand and dragging him off on the walk.

“Sometimes I wonder which one of us you are married to,” Raffaela called after them.

“Oh leave them be,” Gabriela laughed, patting her friend’s knee. “It is not as if we are any better.”

Felipe just grinned and nodded to his wife before following his friend away from the little picnic.

“Next time it is your turn to tell the story,” Felipe muttered as soon as they were out of ear shot.

“I thought you would have had Uncle Nando telling Felipinho the story,” Rob said with a grin.

“Felipinho does not like the way Fernando tells the story,” Felipe said. “Says he talks too much about bread.”

Rob snorted back a laugh. Things had been getting better between himself and the baker, but only recently. Fernando had still stubbornly refused to speak to the healer until Felipinho’s last birthday, when he’d wanted both his uncles to come and visit him, and Rob had done nothing to encourage Fernando to speak to him either. Felipe knew they were both as bad as each other but, as long as they weren’t both moaning to _him_ about the other man, he would leave them be.

“There is one thing I do not understand about it all,” Felipe said after a short silence. He’d been thinking about it a while but he didn’t really know how to bring the subject up with Rob. The two were close, almost as close as they were with their wives, but Felipe really wasn’t sure how Rob would react to the question. He didn’t speak about the dragon anymore, except to tell stories to the children. Felipe didn’t want to bring it up if Rob didn’t want to.

“What’s that?” Rob asked, not sure if he was talking about Fernando or something else.

“The beginning,” Felipe said. “Do not understand why the dragon choses you.”

“Huh?”

“Is not like you are _special,_ ” Felipe said. “Well, you are, but, you know… So why does the dragon chose you to protect? Must be hundreds of little boys out there who needed protection, and am pretty sure they do not get taken over by dragons. So why did it happen to you?”

Rob didn’t say anything for a little while. Felipe looked up at him, trying to read his face, but there was nothing there to read and Felipe couldn’t tell if the healer was offended or not.

“I don’t understand that bit either,” Rob said, eventually. He’d asked himself the same questions hundreds of times, but that was before. He’d moved on from that and he didn’t like to think about it.

“Did you do something?” Felipe asked. He’d thought this through over and over and come up with a few answers, but the dragon was a lifetime ago, let alone before it. “Or maybe your parents do something?”

Rob shook his head. “I don’t remember,” he said. He guessed there was a possibility his parents had done something to convince the dragon to protect him before they died, but he didn’t like the sound of that. They had never been witches, he was sure of that, but making deals with dragons didn’t exactly back that up. And if he himself had done something, he didn’t remember. He barely remembered anything from before the dragon. “Does it matter?”

Felipe shrugged. “I guess not.”

“It’s over now,” Rob said. How many times had Lucy had to tell him that, in the middle of the night when he woke up from dreams sweating and breathless, woke up from nightmares… Rob repeated the phrase almost every day, at least once. He wanted to forget what had happened, but it wasn’t going to happen, so now he just needed to remind himself what was happening now. “Now it’s just a bedtime story.”

He smiled down at Felipe and his friend beamed back, taking hold of Rob’s hand again.

“Daddy!”

Both men spun around the find Felix running over to them, Victoria trying to follow behind. Felix held his finger out to them, tears running down his cheek.

“Daddy, a dragon bit me!” he said, offering the finger to Rob. “Magic kiss it better? Please?”

Rob just smiled and kissed the end of his son’s finger. It was a little red, but there was no harm done. Felix sniffed and stopped crying, smiling weakly up at his father, before hurrying back to the game just as Victoria had caught up with him.

“Victoria, did you bite Felix?” Felipe asked.

Victoria shook her head quickly, nearly toppling herself over until Felix caught her.

“No, Uncle Feli.”

“It was a _real_ dragon,” Felix said. “I’ll show you.”

The children toddled off in the direction of the pond. Rob rolled his eyes and made to follow them, stopping when he realised Felipe wasn’t following.

“Aren’t you coming?” he asked.

“A real dragon?” Felipe asked.

“It’ll probably be a dragon fly or something,” Rob said, even though he was pretty sure dragon flies didn’t bite people. “Something that stings. Come on.”

Felipe sighed and followed Rob back over to the pond. Frankie was giggling whilst Felipinho, Felix, and Victoria all stared at him.

“Look, Papa,” Felipinho said when he noticed the adults approaching. “Frankie rescued a dragon.”

“It tickles,” Frankie said, giggling again.

“It was going to be eaten by a bird,” Felix said.

“Feliz tries to rescue it but it bites him,” Victoria said, grinning.

“But then Frankie rescued it,” Felipinho said.

Felipe and Rob froze as soon as they saw what was tickling Frankie. The creature sat on Rob’s eldest son’s shoulder was no longer than six inches, but there was no doubting that it was the dragon from all those years ago. The same strange coloured scales, the same tail curling and stretching to tickle Frankie’s chin. The same dragon, only smaller. More helpless. Frankie beamed up at his father proudly.

“Is this what you do to make the dragon protect you?” Felipe asked Rob, unable to take his eyes off of the creature on Frankie’s shoulder.

Rob just gulped, words failing him.


End file.
